California County Hopes Artificial Intelligence Can Mitigate Wildfire Risk At this time of year, periodic rain showers on the north coast of California give way to months of daily sunshine and a wildfire risk that grows in severity until the next fall rains arrive. In Sonoma County, a new set of eyes is watching over the forest. Those eyes will be able to tap into an artificial intelligence program to make sure emergency dispatchers are alerted to actual fires instead of mist rising off the forest floor or steam from the region’s numerous natural geysers. The county has entered into a $300,000 contract with South Korea technology firm Alchera to provide artificial intelligence software that can alert fire dispatchers to the precise location of flames or smoke.