Forest fire detector prototype

Tuva’s forests burn. The detection problem isn’t sensing — it’s that the detectors that exist assume mains power, WiFi, and someone to maintain them. None of those exist where you actually need to put them.

So I built one that doesn’t assume any of those. Arduino Nano runs the logic, a gas sensor watches for combustion products, a SIM800L pushes alerts over GSM (which has reach where WiFi doesn’t), and a 30 Ah battery keeps it alive long enough that “unattended” is a real word. The Republic of Tuva fire department gave it positive feedback after testing.

This is the oldest project on the page. It’s here because the constraint shaped everything that came after — building for a real environment with real people downstream of whether the thing works is what I’m still doing now.