Wildfires cause catastrophic damage worldwide, accounting for 20% of global carbon emissions. The problem, exacerbated by climate change, is deteriorating. Unusually severe fires in USA, Australia, Spain etc, have claimed hundreds of lives, causing damage worth US$Bn's. Wildfires are breaking out in countries unaccustomed to the problem. Northern European countries experienced a 200x increase in area burned in 2018\. Even the UK is being badly affected (e.g. Winter Hill -- 2018).

We propose a new solution for early detection of the most predictable fires: those occurring due to power line failure - more damaging than most because they often occur in high winds. In California over 6 years, 1,500 wildfires started in the power line corridors of one utility company, some of the most devastating on record. In Spain, 3,185 fires were started by power lines between 1985-2010\. Power line operators worldwide now face severe financial liabilities (US$Bns), creating a large market (£M100's) for reliable and effective detection systems.

Utility companies have assessed sensors (based on visible/thermal imagers) but have not adopted any at scale because they are too expensive to rollout, require human monitoring and only detect fires once they have grown to an unstoppable size. Companies need technologies that can detect fires in the first minutes after ignition, while they still occupy <1 acre and when firefighters have a chance of extinguishing the fire before it causes extensive damage. This is challenging. Many wildfires occur in remote areas far from electricity and telecommunications infrastructure, so low power consumption, reliability and power/comms-autonomy are key.

The sensing system we propose will use low cost, world-leading pyroelectric infra-red (PIR) detectors (Pyreos) with low cost, highly-efficient non-imaging radiation-collectors (Tethir). PIR's are widely used in fire/flame detection systems for the oil-and-gas sector. Tethir's optics will give a usable detection range (1-2km) with existing detector performances and much further with the development of better detectors. The project will develop a saleable market-entry product and we predict sales of £M10's to power companies over the first 5 years after prototype demonstration, with further sales as we extend the detection capability to other wildfire causes (e.g. arson). The combination of cutting edge technologies with two world-leading UK experts in PIRs and wildfires at Imperial and Kings College London is key to the success of this development and brings the UK a significant wealth-creation opportunity while helping to solve a serious world-wide problem.