Sentinel wins Rep. Julia Brownley’s 2024 Congressional App Challenge in California’s 26th District

When asked what inspired the creation of Sentinel, the students said, “Interest in the development of Sentinel came from being a witness to disastrous wildland fires in California over the past years. Never-before-seen destruction, houses burnt down, loss of life, and displacement of thousands. These were things that we knew needed a solution.

One such incident is the 2018 campfire, recorded as one of the deadliest and most destructive wildfires to ever have happened in California. To date, it has burned over 153,000 acres, destroyed about 19,000 structures, and taken 85 lives. It reduced towns like Paradise to just ashes, displacing several thousand people from their homes. The Woolsey Fire of 2018 is another very impactful incident that raked through 97,000 acres of Ventura and Los Angeles counties, destroying over 1,600 structures and sending about 295,000 into evacuation. Many families lost their homes, and precious memories. Another example, the August Complex Fire also burned more than 1 million acres in California, the largest wildfire the state had ever seen in 2020. Responses to this fire were considered late, and allowed the flames to spread farther. If the fire teams were able to know about the fire when it just started, they could have put it out.

These incidents furthered our interests in developing Sentinel, a system using React JavaScript along with the YOLOv8 Python-based image recognition library, which can turn surveillance cameras into smart fire detectors by screening real-time video feeds for the exact position of a fire for quicker responses. This will target proper agencies like fire departments and government disaster teams so that lifesaving information will be available, shared, and put into appropriate use in order to guide emergency responses. It is our hope that Sentinel can prevent tragedy by enabling speedier detection and timely intervention to protect our community.”