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| Fire detection device created by UMM Industrial Engineering students (Photo: Special). |
The incidents of land fires in the Mount Bromo area in 2023 caused many losses for residents and visitors. The ten-day fire burned about 504 hectares of grassland. According to calculations by the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park Center (BB TNBTS), the losses were estimated at Rp 5.4 billion.
Responding to this problem, Ahmad Wildan Al Mauludi and the team from the Industrial Engineering Study Program of the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) created a tool that can detect forest fires. Wildan said the initial idea to make the Flame Shield Forest (FSF) was due to the land fire in the Bromo area, which resulted in many losses for the country and local residents. Moreover, the inability to handle the fires and the lack of information on the fires also led to the spread of the fires.
"We created this device to prevent it from happening again. This device can help firefighters or those who are responsible find out the condition and location of the fire immediately," he added.
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The device, exhibited at the Industrial Engineering Expo (IEE) in January, was highly praised. The FSF is equipped with an Arduino ESP 32 as a fire detection sensor, gas sensor, GPS module, WiFi module, and signal amplifier. If a fire happens, the fire and gas sensors will detect the fire and send a warning message to the device via the telegram bot feature.
Later, the information that is sent through the device will contain the exact location of the fire. Meanwhile, for the electrical system, the FSF still relies on electricity from external sources, which means it does not yet have its own power. However, it requires a relatively small amount of power, so it is enough to install it on a power bank to run this tool.
"We were planning to use solar panels. However, due to our limited budget, we decided to use affordable USB plugs," he added.
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FSF is not just for detecting forest fires but can also be utilized as a fire detector in a shop or residential area. The FSF will detect gas leaks or sparks from electrical short circuits to avoid a fire and save the local residents from the fire.
The team will change the WiFi feature to a GSM card in the next stage. Thus, the FSF can be used in the forest and has a wider signal range. Moreover, they will also replace some components of the fire and gas sensors to increase the detection range.
"Therefore, the innovation of FSF will not stop here. Hopefully we can add new features so that FSF can be used in forests that are vulnerable to fire," he concluded. (tri/wil/put)
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