A project of The Hack Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit · EIN 81-2908499

California mountain forest at dawn with a distant smoke plume

Season Report · California · Mission 01

Find the fire
while it is small.

We are an engineering organization building the sensors, aircraft, and software that spot a wildfire early and get that information to the people who can act on it.

Why we exist

A useful tool should help someone do what was impossible yesterday.

See something sooner.

Reach a place that is hard to reach.

Understand what is happening.

Make a better call while time still matters.

So we build.

The Season Report idea

Build it. Take it outside. Learn what breaks.

We bring together people who want to make things, test them in the field, learn quickly, and keep going.

Meet the people →
Engineers assembling an unmanned aircraft
Quiet California forest landscape

The first problem

One problem became impossible to ignore.

Wildfire.

A small change can become something much larger. What if we could see it sooner?

Why we are starting here

Mission 01 — Wildfire

Detect earlier.
Understand faster.
Respond sooner.

We are developing a system that watches the environment, detects signs of wildfire, investigates potential fires from the air, and helps build a clearer picture of what is happening on the ground.

01

Notice change

02

Check the signal

03

See from above

04

Look again

Aircraft flying over California terrain

Sometimes, you need to go there.

Technology should move through the world.

How we're building
A person walking through a recovering burned forest

Why it matters

Because the technology isn't the point.

The people are.

The aircraft is a tool. The sensors are tools. The software is a tool. What matters is what those tools allow people to do.

What comes next

Wildfire is where we're starting.

There are more problems worth solving. More places technology can help. More things that need to be built.

01Start the full storyWhy begin with wildfire?

Season Report

Build what matters.

Mission 01 — Wildfire