Resilience against fire hazards is essential for sustainable urban development, especially in dense and complex environments within big cities, where fire risks are evolving rapidly.
By leveraging smart city technologies, such as data‑generating networks, real‑time monitoring, and physics‑ and AI‑based predictive analytics, Prof. Asif Sohail USMANI, Chair Professor in Building Sciences and Fire Safety Engineering of the Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), has developed the SureFire forecasting tool, an intelligent system for fire safety and public emergency management across urban infrastructure and the built environment.
This tool integrates native sensing capabilities in buildings with distributed sensors to monitor fire progression in real time and forecast critical events through AI-assisted simulations during severe incidents, enabling emergency responders to make informed decisions.
SureFire also holds the potential to empower next‑generation firefighting robots, enabling fully automated, casualty‑free firefighting in the future. At PolyU, we continue to drive innovation that strengthens urban safety and builds a more resilient, sustainable future.
Watch the video
