Dubai’s AI system can predict and stop fires before they start

Dubai: Dubai has once again shown the world what it means to be a smart city — this time by using artificial intelligence (AI) to predict and prevent fires before they even begin.

For years, the Dubai Civil Defense has been proud of its ability to reach any fire in under six minutes. Now, thanks to a powerful new AI system, the city is often ahead of the curve — moving emergency teams to high-risk areas even before a fire starts.

High-tech command centre

At the heart of this system is one of the most advanced fire control centres in the world. It works by collecting huge amounts of data — more than one million pieces — from buildings across the city. This includes information about electrical use, weather, building materials, and even the history of past fires.

This data is fed into an AI program that can detect early warning signs of danger. When the system identifies a possible risk, fire trucks, motorcycles, and even firefighting robots are sent to the location — before anyone calls for help.

“If a fire does happen, we’re already there,” one official explained.

Watching every building in real time

Thousands of buildings in Dubai are now equipped with small devices that monitor fire risk in real time. These devices send live updates to the command centre, where a large screen shows the “health” of every building in the city.

Green means low risk. Red means high risk. If a building turns red, emergency teams are sent immediately.

The system even knows what languages are spoken by the people in each building, so alerts can be sent in the correct language — whether it’s Arabic, English, Hindi, Chinese, or Filipino.

A global mission to save lives

Dubai is not keeping this life-saving technology to itself. The city has launched the “1 Billion Initiative”, aiming to teach fire prevention to one billion people around the world.

The program is free and offers tools and lessons to help people learn how to stay safe and stop fires before they happen.

AI for good

“In 2025, AI isn’t just for entertainment,” said a spokesperson for the initiative. “It’s helping us save lives.”

Dubai’s use of AI in fire prevention is another example of how smart technology can create safer, more efficient cities — and how one city’s innovation can help protect people across the globe.