'Sky Firefighters' Deployed... Yeongdeok County Set to Launch Smart Wildfire Monitoring and Response with AI Drones

Korea's First County-Wide Drone Monitoring System
Leading the Way as a Smart and Safe City

Wildfires are no longer left to chance. The only way to outpace the speed of a wildfire is faster detection.

On December 10, Yeongdeok County held a 'Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle Introduction and AI Drone Control System Construction Service Completion Report Meeting' in the main conference room of the county office, aiming for rapid and effective wildfire monitoring and response.

Yeongdeok County Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle Introduction and AI Drone Control System Construction Service Completion Report Meeting. Provided by Yeongdeok County

More than 20 participants attended the meeting, including county officials, the Gyeongbuk Province Wildfire Disaster Response Team, Yeongdeok Fire Station, and Uljin Maritime Police Station. They shared reports on the results of introducing advanced ICT technologies for wildfire prevention and rapid response.

This project establishes 15 unmanned autonomous vehicles (drone stations) throughout Yeongdeok County and creates a system for fully automated operation through an AI-based integrated control system, dramatically enhancing the efficiency of wildfire monitoring and response.

In particular, Yeongdeok County has become the first local government in Korea to establish a county-wide drone monitoring system. This is considered a pioneering disaster prevention system, with few similar cases worldwide.

To achieve this, Yeongdeok County invested 1.2 billion won in special grants and conducted the project over four months, from August to December this year. As a result, the latest 'DroneWork' solution, which fully automates the entire process from scheduled flights, route flights, real-time monitoring, data management, to AI analysis, has been implemented.

Through this initiative, Yeongdeok County plans to utilize this advanced technology not only for wildfire prevention, but also in various public safety areas such as: supporting lifesaving operations at beaches and recreation sites; preventing safety accidents during large-scale events; cracking down on illegal dumping and illegal parking; monitoring student safety during nighttime commutes; and searching for missing persons. The goal is to build a smart and safe city powered by cutting-edge technology.