Wildfire early detection device wins UK Dyson Award

According to the World Resources Institute, forest fires are becoming more widespread, burning at least twice as much tree cover today as they did two decades ago.

However, conventional solutions to mitigate against wildfires require prohibitive amounts of time, money, and labour to install and maintain.

Having witnessed the effects of wildfire in his home country of Brazil, Richard Alexandre set about developing the PyriPod, a bio-inspired and bio-based early wildfire detection system for remote and low-cost widespread coverage. The heat from nascent wildfires activate Pyri’s novel organic electronics which emit a radio frequency signal to alert vulnerable communities.

The device is said to be easy to install, requires zero maintenance, does not need skilled training to operate and is affordable.

The patent-pending device has been developed by Team Pyri, which is made up of Alexandre, head of strategy; Karina Gunadi, head of product; Blake Goodwyn, head of engineering; and Tanghao Yu, head of industrial design.