AI in wildfire fighting raises new questions on accountability and decision-making

TracPlus, an operational data infrastructure provider supporting aerial firefighting agencies in 44 countries, has released a white paper examining how fire agencies can adopt artificial intelligence (AI) with clarity and accountability as decision-support tools become embedded in operations.

The paper, AI Makes the Call. Who Answers for It?, describes a shift where AI increasingly influences fire operations, while governance and evaluation frameworks continue to evolve.

TracPlus has provided operational infrastructure for over 15 years. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), Australia’s aerial firefighting program, and Fire and Emergency New Zealand use it as a system of record across multiple regions.

More than 2,500 aircraft are tracked on TracPlus, which holds over a billion flight records, growing by a million operational data points daily.

“AI is becoming part of the operational toolkit, and that’s a positive development,” said Todd O’Hara, Chief Commercial Officer at TracPlus. “The opportunity for agencies is to introduce AI in a way that preserves visibility into recommendations and decision outcomes.”

The paper recommends running AI alongside human decisions, maintaining a clear operational record, and using data to evaluate performance over time.

Amentum recently won a CAL FIRE contract to boost California’s year-round aerial firefighting.