Sonoma tech startup XyloPlan launches firefighting campaign

When Will Evans faced a non-renewal of his Lake County homeowners insurance policy in April, the personal challenge faced by the executive director of the Clear Lake Environmental Research Center “brought home” to him a professional drive to help others in similar situations.

He applied for and signed up for a pilot project at XyloPlan, a Sonoma-based tech startup that officially launched in July.

Using artificial intelligence, XyloPlan Fire Pathways identifies hazards, creates simulations and measures the path of a wildfire using a mapping platform that measures and maps weather, topography and vegetation that could fuel a fire. This data is a combination of satellite imagery and field observations collected by the US Forest Service.

Lake County has a wealth of experience in wildfire response. Between 2015 and 2020, the Lake County Fire Safe Council recorded nine major wildfires.

Evans stressed the need for government and fire agencies to take a more proactive approach to the issue of wildfires, especially as vegetation and explosives become more abundant, the weather becomes more severe, and development continues to encroach on forest lands.

“One of the issues we have (in Lake County) is the lack of a real connection between wildland and urban areas,” Evans said, describing neighborhoods covered in trees that are surrounded by fuel ladders (living or dead vegetation that allows fire to spread from the ground to the treetops).

That’s why his nonprofit organization (CLERC), founded in 2014 as an environmental and land stewardship organization, emphasizes fire prevention and protection.

“Traditionally, fire mitigation has been people-driven. But XyloPlan is data-driven,” Evans said, pointing to the innovation in the effort.

While Evans has raised $33 million in grants to reduce fuel consumption, he has partnered with Pacific Gas & Electric to provide $500,000 in seed funding to launch a pilot. He hopes the XyloPlan program will become a permanent part of his organization’s firefighting efforts.

Sonoma entrepreneur Scott Cheeseman has drawn on his careers in engineering, health care and real estate to create a computer program that understands and pinpoints risk. He launched XyloPlan last September under the product names XyloRisk for the $22 billion insurance industry and Xylo VTP (Vegetation Treatment Plan) for fire departments and local governments to study where wildfires might break out and how to stop them.

“By identifying where fires are spreading, we can contact the fire department and tell them where they can most effectively reduce the fire threat,” Cheeseman said.

Cheeseman has set up a subscription pricing program with periodic updates, where installation and service can cost $50,000 to $100,000 per year. In addition to CLERC and PG&E, organizations that have signed up for XyloPlan pilot projects include the cities of Paradise and San Luis Obispo, as well as the San Ramon Valley Fire District.

Cheeseman said the first one, which was home to the 2018 Camp Fire, was the first to sign up last October. Dan Efseaff, manager of the Paradise Recreation and Park District, agreed, calling the program a “very intriguing” piece of the puzzle the region is still grappling with today. Paradise was threatened by the recent Park Fire, now the fifth-largest wildfire in California history.

“It allows us to identify the path of fires into our communities,” San Ramon Valley Fire Department Deputy Operations Chief Jonas Aguiar said of XyloPlan. “When the weather, fuel and topography are in a critical (incident) combination, that’s when we get those firebombs.”

The fire district covers Contra Costa County, which includes heavily forested areas surrounding Mount Diablo, where the Diablo winds get their name. These are derecho-type wind storms in the North Bay that occur in the fall and blow into the inner Bay Area from the mountain, contributing to firestorms.

Cheeseman’s goal is to generate $75 million to $100 million in revenue by 2029 for the company he founded with growth support from Moraga-Orinda Fire Chief Dave Winnacker. The fire official cited inconsistencies in wildfire risk assessments and how to reduce threats in different areas as reasons he initiated the analytics platform into use.

“The science is clear on what we need to do to keep our communities free from the threat of wildfires,” Winnacker said. “The problem is getting people to adopt those measures.”

Susan Wood covers law, cannabis, manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, banking and finance. She can be reached at 530-545-8662 or [email protected]