Last June, our area was treated to darkened and strangely-colored skies and the acrid smell of smoke. Winds were blowing smoke and ashes from Canada’s wildfires into the northeastern United States. Every year there are wildfires throughout the western United States. We also see brush fires and forest fires in our own corner of the world.

Wouldn’t it be nice if someone could do something to lessen the fires and their impact? NASA has stepped up and created the Wildfire Climate Tech Challenge.

In 2021, the Biden administration asked government agencies to do what they can to contribute to the growing need of wildland fire management. NASA created the FireSense initiative, which aims to share NASA technology with stage agencies that deal with fire management. While that does help larger entities, the yearlong turnaround time in the selection process can stifle creativity in smaller businesses and minority-served academic institutions. So, NASA created the Wildfire Climate Tech Challenge.

The challenge is open to students and employees of Minority Serving Institutions (MSI’s) to address the escalating issues caused by wildfires exacerbated by climate change.

Successful participants will have the opportunity to join a startup incubator program and compete for a prize of $100,000. Entries can be made by individuals or teams.

Michael Seablom, Associate Director for Technology in NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office; and Ian McCubbin, Program Manager in the Space Technology Office at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explain why the challenge is focusing on MSI’s.

“The impacts of wildfires in all cases - pre-fire, active-fire, and post-fire - are not equally distributed. Marginalized communities are often excluded from decision-making for mitigation strategies, some of which can pose financial burdens on low-income communities.

He said responses to active fires are also particularly challenging to communities with barriers to receive disaster messaging and without resources to evacuate.

“And finally, marginalized communities also face inequities in recovery, often lacking the funds to receive temporary shelter or to rebuild.”

“The goal is to select projects that will ultimately enhance NASA’s capabilities in Earth observation and will translate into useful applications for operational agencies,” explained Neil van Niekerk, Climate Change Innovation Manager at Blue Clarity, LCC, who is administering the challenge on behalf of NASA.

“We hope the winners will develop business models around their ideas that will be useful to both NASA and the operational agencies,” van Niekerk added.

To enter the contest, entrants must submit a 5-page white paper (includes cover page) and a 2- to 3-minute video on the presentation. Submissions close at 8 p.m. Feb. 16.

For details go to: www.nasa-climate-tech.org/wildfires/home.