From Risk to Response: How grid-edge AI can help with bushfire mitigation
Vegetation brushing against power lines can cause ignition events that lead to bushfires. Sense grid edge AI technology can detect many events such as vegetation contact, allowing a faster response, and preventing the situation from becoming worse.
By Dave Johnson, Head of Australia
Every year, tens of thousands of bushfires tear through Australia’s landscapes. And while utilities have made major strides in prevention and response, the harsh reality is that the earliest moments—those right after an ignition event—can make all the difference.
Sense technology can help detect as events occur.
Why Grid Edge Visibility Matters More Than Ever
Bushfires often start in ways that are hard to catch: a branch brushing against a line, weather-damaged insulation sparking, or even vegetation pushing conductors together during extreme conditions. These aren’t always visible from the ground, but they leave behind electrical fingerprints.
Sense technology—built into next-generation smart meters—can detect those signatures in real time. Unlike traditional meters, Sense listens to the subtle electrical signals across the grid. It identifies disruptions at the edge of the network, offering a new level of precision for utilities looking to detect and respond to risk faster.
What Sense Has Proven in the Field
In the U.S., Sense has already demonstrated the power of this approach. During the 2023 Maui wildfire, Sense identified patterns of grid instability and pinpointed the ignition location 44 minutes before the first public emergency report. In another utility-led validation study, Sense reduced bushfire-related response time by up to four hours—an improvement with potentially life-saving implications.
By turning every home’s electric meter into a real-time sensor, utilities can now spot and locate anomalies faster, respond more accurately, and prioritise resources where they’re needed most.
A Smarter Way to Maintain and Respond
Vegetation is one of the top causes of bushfire ignition in Australia—and one of the costliest to manage. Rather than relying on routine or reactive inspections, Sense helps utilities zero in on actual risk. It can detect anomalies that crews may miss, like worn insulation, arcs from water tracks, or line contact events.
This targeted approach improves operational efficiency and helps prevent high-cost damage before it occurs.
Partnering for a Safer Grid
Sense is currently working with U.S. utilities in wildfire-prone regions and is ready to collaborate with DNSPs in Australia.
Dave Johnson commented “Our approach is flexible: utilities can integrate Sense data into existing SCADA systems or analytics platforms. And once validated, full deployments can be scaled quickly with Sense-capable meters”
Looking Ahead
As fire seasons grow longer and more intense, early detection and smart response aren’t optional—they’re essential. With Sense, utilities can gain the real-time intelligence needed to shift from reactive to proactive, and from risk to resilience.
