Vasya Tremsin was a senior in high school in 2018. His idea to create a product that could sense the outbreak of a wildfire (and therefore the ability to contain them while they're small enough to manage) was a Science Fair project at his school in California. 

Shortly after winning the Fair, he was encouraged to develop the product commercially. 

Wildfires are a costly force of nature, reportedly amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars in the United States, not to mention the personal injury and potential loss of life. Severe weather patterns such as record-breaking heat and extended drought are intensifying conditions that increase the number of fires. 

If Tremsin's product, now a fire sensor company called “Torch Sensors”, is successful it would help alarm local firefighting agencies before wildfires spread too far and rage out of control.