Napa state Sen. Bill Dodd proposes wildfire tech innovation office

With California at the center of the American West’s wildfire crisis, state Sen. Bill Dodd is pushing for the state to take a leading role in the innovation of new technology used to fight and prevent major fires.

Dodd, D-Napa, is proposing the creation of a new state office charged with research, testing and development of new fire suppression technologies.

Dodd, whose district has been hit year after year with major wildfires that have burned thousands of homes and killed dozens of people, said the proposal stems from the flurry of calls and emails he’s received from entrepreneurs pitching new products or marketing new tools for firefighting and protecting homes.

“It’s incredibly important that we allow as much technology to flourish in this area so our homeowners, biz owners and property owners have as many tools as they can to protect themselves,” Dodd said.

Dodd’s legislation, SB 10 , which would establish the new initiative within the state Office of Emergency Services.

It would “study, test and advise regarding procurement of emerging technologies and tools in order to more effectively prevent and suppress wildfires within the state. The office shall serve as the central organizing hub for the state government’s identification of emerging wildfire technologies,” according to the bill.

California has experienced 17 of the 20 largest wildfires in its recorded history in the past decade. Six of those 20 fires burned last year, when the state hit another all-time mark, with over 4.2 million acres burned, or 4% of the state’s land area.

While universities and federal agencies including the Forest Service have long been leaders in fire science research and innovation, Dodd said the worsening wildfire crisis is a call for the state to create its own hub of innovation and leverage products and programs developed in the private sector.

The state could put itself in a position to vet new technologies and get new tools to the front lines of wildland blazes — at a pace faster than the federal government. The office also could have a role evaluating new methods for protecting neighborhoods from big fires, including fire safe materials for houses.

“The private sector is already doing it, it is developing numbers of new different technologies, but their ability to get those approved and in the marketplace in many cases is driven by the lack of an approval process by the state,” Dodd said.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 707-521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.