Brothers Develop a System to Predict and Detect Wildfires
It’s hard not to feel helpless as wildfires consume acres upon acres of landscape in the U.S. Two brothers from California, Daniel (16) and Matthew (13) Persky, are developing a way to mitigate this tragic problem, inspired by a fire that broke out where their parents were married. Their SkyScouts system, currently on a fast track in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, claims to be the first to both predict and detect wildfires.
We talked with Daniel and Matthew about how the technology works, why they champion entrepreneurship, and what they plan to do in Paris to empower youth around business and policy. Be sure to click the arrow above to listen to our first brotherly Future of the Business World conversation!
An edited transcript appears below.
Wharton Global Youth Program: Hello and welcome to Future of the Business World, the podcast featuring high school entrepreneurs from around the world.
I’m Diana Drake with the Wharton Global Youth Program at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, our mission at Wharton Global Youth is delivering excellent content, programs, courses and competitions to high school students from Wharton, a world leader in business education.
Our latest podcast episode is a strong example of how innovation and problem solving share the same breath. Ideas often come from personally felt needs, and today’s guests have been experiencing one need very profoundly.
Daniel Persky, a high school student from California, and his younger brother Matthew, are the founders of SkyScouts, a system to predict and detect wildfires. The U.S. state of California has lost millions of acres to wildfires in the past several years, and the most recent fires are devastating the city of Los Angeles, not far from the Persky’s home. As many of us watch this tragedy unfold, their innovation is an idea whose time has come. We’re curious to learn more about how it works. Daniel, Matthew, welcome to Future of the Business World.
Daniel Persky: Thank you, and we’re extremely excited to be here. Thank you for your time.
Matthew Persky: Thank you so much.
Wharton Global Youth: Daniel, you joined the Wharton Global Youth community last summer when you attended our Essentials of Finance program. I don’t know much more than that. Can you tell us about yourself, your school and your interests? And Matthew, please do the same.
Daniel: Hi everyone. I’m Daniel Persky, and I’m a 10th grader in high school. One thing you should know about me is that I’m an advocate for youth empowerment and climate action, and I was invited to speak as a delegate at the United Nations General Assembly Action Days late last year, a few months ago, and the UN ECOSOC conference back in April. I’m also a Learning Planet Youth Council member and mentor. One thing I’m really interested in is social entrepreneurship, and together with my younger brother, Matthew, I recently invented a new technology named SkyScouts.
Matthew: Hi, I’m Matthew. I’m an eighth grader, so I’m 13 years old. I’m a Teach the Future Youth Council member and a Learning Planet Youth Fellow. I enjoy giving persuasive advocacy speeches about empowering youth through education and policy so that my generation can make a difference in climate action. I’m also a co-founder of SkyScouts with Daniel.
Wharton Global Youth: It’s really nice to meet both of you. Let’s get right into this. What is SkyScouts, and how and why did you collaborate on its development? Daniel?
Daniel: In short, SkyScouts is the first system to predict and detect wildfires. And what we’re doing is we’re proactively preventing and suppressing early fires before they grow more and threaten lives. As you’ve probably seen on the news, wildfires can cause a lot, a lot of devastation in a very short amount of time, so every minute and every second counts when we’re mitigating them. So that’s where we come in, and we’re hoping to get fires before they even start, or get them as soon as possible, so that less people die and less devastation happens.
Wharton Global Youth: Can you tell me about how the technology works?
Daniel: We’re predicting and detecting wildfires. First off, we’re looking at lightning data. Where’s lightning striking? And then we pair that with other data like humidity and wind patterns, and then that tells us which lightning strikes are more likely to cause wildfires. For example, if lightning strikes in an open field where there’s a lot of wind and there’s a lot of dead brush around the area, it’s pretty likely to start a fire, rather than a lightning strike in an area where it’s raining or something like that. That’s part of our predictive component. And then we also look at power equipment signals, which have been the causes of wildfires in the past, and if there’s voltage drops or other irregularities that could be indicative of something touching a power line, or a downed power line, or some sort of malfunction with the technology, which could cause a wildfire. And then we also detect wildfires on the ground, so they work together. If we predict something, then we can detect on the ground and verify whether our predictions are true, and we do that by looking at particulates.
Wharton Global Youth: Matthew, why did you start this? What inspired it?
Matthew: What really got us thinking about this huge problem with wildfires was actually the Maui wildfires, which happened a couple of years ago in Hawaii. Our parents got married in Maui, and when we heard about the fires that were happening a couple years ago, we were really devastated and heartbroken because so many lives were being lost because of one mishap in the communication process. We started thinking about how we could stop wildfires and the different causes of wildfires. And then we came up with SkyScouts.
Wharton Global Youth: The humanity in all of this is really something. And I was hoping you could talk about the situation in California right now, and your lived experience so close to the LA fires. What does that do to your entrepreneurial energy, knowing that you have this tech startup in the works? What are you observing? Can you tell me a little bit about it?
Matthew: Many of our friends are affected by the LA fires, and many have lost their homes, which were totally destroyed or severely damaged. Our friends who have not lost their longtime homes had to evacuate for their safety. So, many people that we know are affected by the smoke and poor air quality, and it’s heartbreaking to see on the news.
Daniel: If I could just add a little bit. Even though we’re not directly affected by wildfires, I think it’s safe to say that a lot of the state of California is affected in the same way we are, either through our friends and relatives living in affected areas, and then also, the secondary effects, which kill a lot of people. It’s more than you think from the smoke and pollution.
Wharton Global Youth: It must be something to be so close to it. Daniel, you describe yourself as a social entrepreneur and a passionate advocate for equality, climate action, youth empowerment. I’ve heard this from a lot of other students before, and I sense you might be more committed to these causes than simply a passing interest. How are you acting on your interests? Tell us more about your passions.
Daniel: Regarding equality, my brother and I, again, we’re working together. We founded The Equality Collective in middle school, and we’ve just been distributing educational supplies, hygiene products, clothes, sports equipment and other resources to underserved communities. The goal of that is to level the playing field and advance equal opportunities. And for climate action, we’re working on SkyScouts, and we’re trying to reduce wildfire destruction. The pollution releases more greenhouse gases and contributes to natural disasters being worse.
Wharton Global Youth: And Matthew, are you closely aligned with your brother’s goals? Tell us about your interests.
Matthew: So, Daniel is very interested in social entrepreneurship. I’m also interested in business, but I’m more passionate about using my voice and advocating for improved policies that advance climate action and youth empowerment. He is approaching it from a business perspective, while I’m approaching it from a policy perspective, and while I’m using my voice.
Wharton Global Youth: And do you guys riff off each other? I mean, do you feel as though you feel inspired by each other’s energy? What is it like to be brother entrepreneurs and have these interests?
Matthew: Yeah, I think I can speak on this. So I think it’s really helpful for me, especially because Daniel’s two years older than me, and he’s definitely a mentor for me, and he inspires me, because he’s doing so much. I want to follow his lead, and he teaches me a lot of things.
Wharton Global Youth: How about you, Daniel?
Daniel: You know, we have our ups and downs as brothers. But I think it’s fun to work with my brother on SkyScouts or The Equality Collective, whatever it may be. Yeah, I think it strengthens our bond, so I’d recommend it for any other siblings out there.
Wharton Global Youth: Let’s go back to SkyScouts for a minute. You claim that this technology has been validated by fire chiefs and industry experts. Tell us more about that process of market research and feedback.
Daniel: The way it started was by cold emailing fire chiefs and police chiefs and just setting up meetings with them whenever we could to learn about their current processes. So basically, talking through their processes for responding to fires or other problems, and whatever problems there may be in those processes, or whatever inefficiencies there are. And then we introduced our SkyScouts system. Back then it was just an idea, and we’d get their feedback, and they helped shape the idea into what it is and shape our actions into creating what the product is today. We’ve also attended wildfire prevention events and other conferences, just to network with more industry experts who might know people who are useful, or maybe give us some bits of advice or feedback, which would be helpful for us.
Matthew: Definitely a really helpful thing is that the fire and police chiefs that we do end up talking to, they all know each other, and so when we talk to one and give our pitch, they can link us in with other fire and police chiefs who have a more specific area of expertise that would work well with what we’re doing in this industry.
“Education is the key to empowerment. It increases human capital, and it increases the value you can generate for other people. It opens a lot of doors, and inside those doors it gives individuals abilities to make change on a broader scale.” –Daniel Persky, co-founder, SkyScouts
Wharton Global Youth: You also claim to be the first system to predict and detect wildfires. I suspect this space is crowded with people trying to make a very bad situation better through prevention. Do you have a lot of competition? What does it look like out there? Wild, wild west?
Daniel: Yeah, there definitely is a lot of competition, and the market is huge because of the scale of the problem. Even just in California, the problem is so huge, and that’s not to mention other states or countries that are also experiencing wildfires. The industry experts we’ve spoken to have told us that nobody’s really taking a holistic approach like we are — prediction and detection all in one. Because right now, what’s clear is the industry is focused on detection, so kind of reactive, reacting to visible smoke or heat signatures or calls from people. We’re trying to use the newest technology to predict before people are able to even see smoke. We want to be able to know that there’s a fire happening and that we can stop it immediately.
Matthew: Like Daniel was saying, we shift the paradigm of firefighting from reactive to more proactive, which means we try to predict and stop fires in their tracks early. Our SkyScouts system is fast, accurate and cost effective, which therefore means it can cover larger areas.
Wharton Global Youth: Where is SkyScouts in its development and rollout as a startup? What progress have you been able to make?
Daniel: Our patent application was recently accepted into the USPTO [United States Patent & Trademark Office] Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program. Right now, we’re still currently making improvements on our sensor prototypes and our machine learning algorithms. So, we do have a sensor prototype, but it’s not ready to go. It’s not ready for consumers. We’re still testing it and improving it just to make it more accurate.
Wharton Global Youth: And so, you don’t yet have a patent, but it’s in this program which will help you reach the point of getting a patent. Is that correct?
Daniel: Yes, it’s been accepted into a fast-track program by the Patent and Trademark Office.
Matthew: I think the hardest thing with our development of SkyScouts is the testing part, because obviously we can’t start fires by ourselves in our backyards, So, testing is definitely really hard. But we are working with fire chiefs to do a pilot program. So maybe if they have to go fight a fire, we can develop our testing more by putting our sensor near it.
Wharton Global Youth: Daniel, I have to ask, what did you take away from Essentials of Finance last summer that helped to fuel your social entrepreneurship?
Daniel: Overall, I really enjoyed the program. I’d recommend it for anybody. It was very helpful for my social entrepreneurship journey. I think even though it’s focused on corporate finance — It also was focused on personal finance — it was extremely useful for social entrepreneurship as well. I feel it enhanced my understanding of scaling and growing a small company into something large. I think that’s something that will be useful for us, because we’re working as a startup. I think as an entrepreneur, it’s very easy to get lost in the vision of what it could be, but finance brings everything back to reality with cold, hard numbers. It gives you a reality check on whether your business is sustainable and profitable. And yeah, I really recommend this course for anybody considering finance or entrepreneurship. Five stars.
Wharton Global Youth: Five stars. Okay, so I understand that you are both headed to Paris tomorrow for a youth UNESCO [United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization] conference. What will you do there? Matthew?
Matthew: We’ll meet with UNESCO officials at their headquarters in Paris and speak about empowering youth through technology. I was also invited to host a roundtable that works on connecting different topics that usually work in silos, like education and business, so that we can try to centralize it, and youth can have an easier time being ready for the real world.
Wharton Global Youth: Daniel, are you excited for this?
Daniel: Yeah, I’m excited to go to Paris with my brother. Of course, it will probably be really fun. And yeah, I’m excited to see Matthew speak and also speak a little bit myself on a panel about AI and education.
Wharton Global Youth: Well, I will circle back with both of you and find out how it went. But really, I mean, this does lead into a great question about, what would you like other high school students and teenagers to know about youth empowerment and driving social change, and what would you like them to take away from your dedication and your passion to all of these causes?
Daniel: One really important thing, at least that I believe, is that education is the key to empowerment. It increases human capital, and it increases the value you can generate for other people. It opens a lot of doors, and inside those doors it gives individuals abilities to make change on a broader scale. It also opens doors to jobs. A lot of jobs related to climate action or things that people are passionate about that they want to help solve are locked behind the door of education. In today’s day and age, it’s very, very important. And one more thing, I hope that youth will consider entrepreneurship as a rewarding career and as a viable career, because entrepreneurships are creating jobs and empowering people. So, if that’s something you’re interested in, I think entrepreneurship is a way to go.
Matthew: The main thing that I love about what I do is that empowering youth can be like a butterfly effect. When you inspire someone, they can do their thing and then inspire someone else, and so on. This is why I love advocacy, because there’s so much untapped potential in many young people that just needs to be realized and given that spark. So, driving social change at first can be a daunting task, but at least for me, when I met new people and I started collaborating with them and getting to know them, it made it much easier and more enjoyable. And I think seeing the smiles and laughs of the people that me and my brother help empower, is really important and impactful for me.
Wharton Global Youth: Okay, let’s end with our lightning round. Please answer these questions as quickly as you can.
What is something about you that would surprise us?
Daniel: I’m really good at magic tricks.
Matthew: I play the jazz saxophone, and I also like basketball.
Wharton Global Youth: As a consumer, what is a brand that aligns with your identity and inspires your loyalty?
Daniel: I’d say Google, because of their free and accessible products.
Matthew: I’d say Nike, because recently, they’ve started their Move to Zero, which is a move to zero carbon emissions, and it’s very inspiring.
Wharton Global Youth: What would you be caught binge-watching at midnight?
Daniel: You probably wouldn’t find me binge-watching at all. I’d probably be reading a historical fiction book. That’s my go-to genre.
Matthew: I would be binge-watching our SkyScouts pitch.
Wharton Global Youth: Something you would like to learn that you don’t yet know?
Daniel: I would like to learn more languages because they open so many doors to be able to communicate with more people and understand global challenges.
Matthew: I would like to learn how to inspire people to find their passion like I did myself.
Wharton Global Youth: Last question. You are starting a business-themed talk show. Who is your first guest and what is your first question?
Daniel: I think I would bring Sundar Pichai, because he runs Google, and I would like to pick his brain and ask him about their business model. That’s what really interests me.
Matthew: I would invite Mark Cuban, when he was still on Shark Tank, and I would ask him what the most important factors are that he looks for when making his investment decisions on Shark Tank.
Wharton Global Youth: Daniel, Matthew, thank you for joining us on Future of the Business World!
Daniel: Thank you so much for having us.
Matthew: Yeah, thank you. It was a pleasure to chat with you. Diana, thank you so much.
Conversation Starters
What is SkyScouts and how does it work?
How are Daniel and Matthew driving social change? What resonates most deeply with you about their work and their interests?
How did these brothers shape their idea into something more viable?
Daniel is a big advocate of entrepreneurship. Are you a social entrepreneur? Share your story in the comment section of this article.
The Hero Image was shot by Casey Horner, Unsplash
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP is the key phrase for “innovation and progress”. It’s amazing to listen to such young brothers who are passionate about youth empowerment and policy. The loss of lives in Maui was the catalyst to take action, proving that real startups are not selfish ventures driven by solely profists intertings, as we are usually taught. Instead, businesses are built on empathy, collaboration and innovation, they come from the desire to improve society and create meaningful change in our communities.
That’s what motivates us to work in human-centered products and services that offer the best solution to our target audience, while generating significant profits to create a sustainable impact, create jobs and reach financial freedom. I really admire Daniel for this initiative, for being willing to dive into this challenging journey and learn from scratch everything about entrepreneurship and the business model; and I look up to Mathew because, despite his young age, he has already discovered a clear passion for his work and is committed to helping others find theirs.
This last point is very valuable having in mind that many young people tend to choose their career guided by what their parents want them to study or led by the fear of not having economic stability in the future. Consequently, they end up studying something that they aren’t passionate about. When you dedicate yourself to something you love, you gain the motivation and discipline to stand out and succeed, no matter what career you choose. However, when your path is not aligned with your true self, it becomes even harder to thrive.
Finally, a great way to begin this journey is launching non-profit initiatives, just as Daniel and Mathew did with The Equality Collective. These projects allow you to develop your expertise in design thinking strategies while making a real impact.
I couldn’t agree more social entrepreneurship is arguably the most powerful means of driving substantial change our generation can undertake. What I related to most in your answer was how you emphasized empathy and collaboration as the foundations of real startups. As a competitive tennis player, I’ve always been taught to value strategy, performance, and persistence. But listening to tales of Daniel and Mathew makes me understand that the same values can be transposed off the court to community-based initiatives that blend resourcefulness with empathy.
I especially appreciated what you mentioned about bringing attention to how many students are motivated by external pressures be they parental or fear of financial instability. That’s something I’ve observed among my own friends, and I think projects like The Equality Collective offer a different message: that it’s also possible to pursue one’s passion, and that impact and income don’t have to be competing interests.
I also think that creating non-profits, as you said, is a great way to get your entrepreneurial chops. But what really excites me is when those pilot projects evolve into scalable startups that go on to reinvest in their communities. Maybe the next frontier for young changemakers is developing hybrid models half nonprofit, half for-profit so that we can wed purpose with longevity.
Thanks for your insight! It reminded me that progress doesn’t always come from the loudest voices, but from those who listen, act, and stay committed to lifting others along the way.
In different regions around the world, wildfires have been one of the most concerning issues amidst the climate crisis for the past few decades. Approximately 300 to 500 million hectares of Earth’s land surface are burned annually. What exacerbates an already dire situation is the fact that these wildfires have never been predictable due to their varied causes, and they are most likely to escalate into massive forest fires that can burn down entire cities to ash. SkyScouts are what our current global warming fighters desperately need, as they excel in both prediction and detection simultaneously.
Even though people attempt to prevent wildfires from progressing to secondary effects in their early stages, it is often challenging to achieve this goal. According to The Guardian, at least 30 people died, and the recent LA wildfire destroyed 17,000 structures in January. Additionally, South Korea, where I live, recorded 32 deaths and countless injuries. The world cannot afford to remain defenseless against terrifying wildfires that often tie our hands and feet, and the accomplishments of Daniel and Matthew resonate with me even more deeply.
Collaboration with police chiefs and fire chiefs strengthened SkyScouts’ wildfire prevention efforts. Additionally, they considered the common reasons for wildfires and applied the method for detecting the fires. Their legal and technical knowledge, combined with years of experience, will enable them to develop strategic plans for the solution. Without the help of firefighters and police who become involved in the situation, it would be nearly impossible to determine where to start with these unpredictable wildfires.
Currently, just waiting until the fire is controllable is a usual response. Not even the firefighters dare to throw their bodies into the disaster while people are dying. But, if more and more systems like SkyScouts get implemented, these wildfires would be able to be repressed one day and protect vulnerable ones from the fires.
Wildfires are like that one uninvited guest at a climate crisis party, they show up unpredictably, wreak havoc, and leave everything in ashes. With 300-500 million hectares torched annually, Earth’s basically auditioning for a dystopian sequel. And let’s be real: when even firefighters hesitate to charge in, you know things are dire (looking at you, LA: 17,000 structures gone, 30 lives lost).
Enter SkyScouts—the Sherlock Holmes of wildfire prevention. By teaming up with police and fire chiefs, they’re not just detecting fires; they’re outsmarting them with legal savvy and tech wizardry. No more crossing fingers and waiting for flames to ‘become controllable’ (read: until half the state is charcoal).
South Korea’s 32 wildfire deaths? California’s annual smoke signals? SkyScouts might just be the Avengers we need—minus the capes, plus actual strategy. Here’s hoping their systems spread faster than, well… wildfire.
Daniel and Matthew were the first to take a direct approach to solving the problem of wildfires by inventing a program that combines the abilities of both prediction and detection.
Although their idea had originated from a small concern about wildfires at their parents’ honeymoon place, their strong executive leadership and determination for the environment had led them to create such an innovative wildfire system. This shows their passion and sincere care for our environment.
Their invention not only helps mitigate devastating wildfires but also inspires and motivates teenagers to begin their journey towards what they are passionate about. This could, therefore, be a significant precedent for further discoveries of youths.
Furthermore, their progress inspires adults to take more active action for climate change by acknowledging how even teenagers are highly dedicated and diligent on environmental issues.
Thus, it is essential to support the inventions of younger generations that have the potential to drive innovation, bring about significant social changes, and shape public opinion.
I agree; Daniel and Matthew serve as inspirations for people of many generations. Their impact not only encourages teenagers like us, but also the adults that they meet with such as the countless firefighters and police officers.
In a world where it is rare to be unique because of an abundance of information and global issues to solve, I commend Daniel and Matthew for being the very first to do something about these wildfires that plague many areas of the world. It shocks me that these two young boys were able to build the technology that adults could not even think about designing. Being from California myself, I know that wildfire season is truly one of the most devastating and ruining times of the year, yet it surprises me that it has taken this long for this kind of technology to surface— especially since two young boys have actually taken the initiative to do something about it.
It is in fact essential that more teenagers like us make the first move in a world where we are not void to the damage being caused. Our voices are so easily overlooked when in reality, they have the power to make all the difference.
SkyScouts was developed by Matthew and Daniel Persky which helps to prevent and eliminate fires before they can form into large wildfires. Their invention works by analyzing data about lightning strikes, weather conditions, patterns, and signals from electrical systems and power lines. If any data appears to be incorrect, the brothers alert fire stations in the area about potential wildfires. This invention operates in real-time, providing firefighters with immediate data on potential fire locations to prevent them from escalating into large wildfires.
The brothers’ invention drives social change because it shows, even though they are only teenagers, they can still make a difference. This provides other teenagers a chance to try their own inventions to try and change the world based on the success of the Persky brothers. For example, some of the most random and important inventions were created by teenagers just simply experimenting with stuff they found interesting such as the television and popsicles which to this day have become staple inventions in our everyday lives. What resonates the deepest within me is why the brothers invented SkyScouts, the reason being that it disrupted their parents’ marriage in Hawaii. This is something that I can relate to after experiencing the harmful air quality in New York after the wildfires in Canada during early June 2023. The Persky brothers’ drive to prevent wildfires is truly inspiring, showing how hardship can lead to motivation for finding real solutions.
During the construction of SkyScouts, Daniel and Matthew faced significant challenges. One of the most difficult ones they faced was that their product was extremely difficult to test and tweak. This was because testing it involved placing it near fires to record data and they simply couldn’t start a fire in their backyard. In order to overcome this challenge, they worked with professional analysts and fire chiefs to place their sensor closer to ongoing fires to collect better data to tweak their program. This allowed the technology to be better adapted and allowed their product to be more viable in that environment.
Like Daniel and Matthew, I also experimented with being an entrepreneur, although not on the same level as them. Throughout middle school, I sold gum, charging around 200% more for each stick and upwards of 500% for each pack of gum. Even though I was basically scamming. people in return for small amounts of profit, selling gum taught me valuable lessons like supply and demand. It was lessons like this which grew my consumer base allowing me to make more money. Seeing their story just reminds me that their story is the same as mine, where they saw a problem that needed solving and worked to solve it while developing a product that could be used to save countless lives.
In California, wildfires are no longer rare incidents. They’re an annual reality. I vividly recall the dark orange skies, suffocating haze, and my dad helping neighbors haul a blown-over tree off the road as we evacuated this year’s LA fires. At a hotel that night, we watched the news helplessly as more and more homes, schools, and small businesses were consumed, phones buzzing with frantic texts from friends and family. Seven months later, many families still can’t return home, land and water remain polluted, and toxic ash has left lasting damage on people’s health. The harsh reality of climate change felt inescapable.
Thankfully, innovations like SkyScouts are increasingly avant-garde. Daniel and Matthew Persky’s mission to transform wildfire preparedness systems has reimagined how we confront crisis: with foresight, collaboration, and youth-led ambition. What I admire most about SkyScouts is that it isn’t reactive, as the world too often is. It aims to predict, prevent, and shift the paradigm from inertia to initiative.
This article reinforced the fact that our ideas, even on a small scale, can help confront global issues with creativity. As someone who also leads a youth driven tech-based initiative – this year, I led Venture, our school’s entrepreneurship club – I’m further inspired to use a proactive mindset to make real change. In fact, following the fires, Venture partnered with the Environmental Club to organize a clothing drive/upcycling project, turning old, donated clothes into a fully student-run business. I’ve always believed that young people can create tangible and meaningful impact when it comes to combating issues like climate change. SkyScouts is proof that we don’t need to wait to act – we just have to start.
To young people reading this, in a time when climate anxiety is easy to feel but hard to fight, Daniel and Matthew’s story reminds us that youth is a catalyst for growth, not a constraint. Though natural disasters are inevitable, we can choose how we improve our preparedness each time. Daniel and Matthew have chosen boldness, ingenuity, and passionate hope to fight the flames. So can we.
Hi Hudson, thank you for sharing your experience! I admire how you connected SkyScouts’ mission to your own efforts with Venture and the Environmental Club. Like you, I believe that innovation doesn’t always require advanced technology, but curiosity and a willingness to ask simple but important questions.
It reminded me of Katherine Commale, who as a young girl helped raise awareness of and funding for mosquito nets in Africa. She didn’t build anything extremely high-tech. She noticed a problem, asked why it existed, and acted. SkyScouts is a great example of how data, empathy, and collaboration can combine to solve an issue like wildfires. But I think it also shows how youth entrepreneurship is shifting—from just creating cool products to building purpose-driven solutions that benefit communities. I believe anyone who is passionate can accomplish the same.
However, I recognize that students can feel lost in where to start. I think this highlights a gap in education in which we don’t necessarily need to wait until college to start applying our skills or knowledge to solve real world problems. It would be great if problem-solving were taught more in schools, and not just in math classes, but for students to be more aware of and knowledgeable about issues in their community. This will encourage students to notice problems in their communities or even world-wide, and guide students to ask “why” and act upon the problem.
Imagine what the world would be like if others like Daniel and Matthew were to find a problem they are interested in and take steps to solve it.
Daniel and Matthew Persky are driving social change by combining innovation and entrepreneurship in order to create a system known as SkyScouts, which accurately predicts and detects wildfires. With the implementation of their newly developed system, wildfires can be avoided and mitigated before they cause widespread destruction. By analyzing a variety of different data sources, such as lightning strike or humidity data, SkyScouts is able to precisely locate where wildfires are most likely to start or have already started, saving peoples’ lives and property.
While Daniel and Matthew have not been directly affected by wildfires, they reside in California, a state that has numerous wildfires every year. Like Daniel mentioned in the article, not only does the initial wildfire take peoples’ lives, but also the smoke inhalation that many people suffer from. By using SkyScouts, the number of casualties from wildfires and its effects can be decreased tremendously.
Using the real-world insight and feedback that fire and police chiefs provide, the Persky brothers are able to improve on their system, solving problems that first responders currently face. As SkyScouts further develops and expands, I believe it will transform how we fight wildfires and will play an important role in saving lives and protecting communities in the future.
Daniel and Matthew’s commitment to improving not just their community but also the world resonates with me the most because it shows how young people can change the world and society when they are fueled by passion and determination. After learning about the Maui fires in Hawaii, where their parents were married, they were motivated to create SkyScouts in order to prevent future wildfires from causing any more harm to people, the community, and the environment.
When I read this article, I was instantly reminded of one day in 8th grade. While everyone was going home after school, the sky turned a dark amber color. Later, we would learn that this smoke was a result of wildfires raging in Canada. Although I have never personally witnessed a wildfire, the Persky brothers’ story is a truly remarkable display of advocacy, hard work, and teamwork.
The brothers combined their strengths in order to achieve their success. Daniel’s proficiency in tech and business, combined with Matthew’s focus on advocacy and policy, enabled the success of their system. I feel a personal connection to this type of teamwork. I am part of a FIRST Robotics Team. We have three departments that are crucial to our team’s success. Our business department focuses on advocacy and policy, while the mechanical and software departments concentrate on building the robot. Every member has a unique skill set from machining to design. The mission of FIRST is to teach and inspire engineers through teamwork and cooperation.
Skyscouts is a kind of forward-thinking innovation. It focuses on early detection, enabling preventive measures rather than reactive measures. A shift from reactive to proactive measures is a bold move, but one that could save lives. One of my personal goals is to invent or create a machine capable of solving pollution.
This work is a reminder that the youth are change makers. The ideas and work of youth can be life-saving. Youth advocacy is of utmost importance, and the Persky brothers are a prime example of it.
Hi Bennett!
What the Persky brothers built is so impressive. Using weather data like lightning and humidity to predict wildfires before they even start? They show that it’s not just about fighting fires, but stopping them from happening in the first place. I also really liked how you mentioned their teamwork, I think that’s a crucial part for their business. Without working together, they may not have been able to achieve so much so fast. Through their partnership they had someone to lean on as they created a lasting impact on the world.
Your connection between your Robotics team and teamwork reminded me of a fundraiser I helped lead for my volunteering club. We had to coordinate between a million different groups — club members, students, teachers, administration, restaurants — it was just crazy. I don’t know how I would’ve done it without the support of all our club leaders. Looking back, everyone gave it their 110% which yielded a huge turnout and we raised beyond what we needed. And there’s no way a single person could’ve gotten the same result given the short amount of time we had.
That’s what I think makes SkyScout so special. It’s not just some tech project, they actually tied together science, data, and real-world action in a way that matters. They weren’t just reacting to a bad situation, they tried to fix the system that caused it; looking at prevention rather than cure. That kind of thinking, long-term, connected, and collaborative, is what makes their business work. It’s the kind of thing that gives me hope for what people our generation can do.
I’ll never forget the day I had to evacuate because of a wildfire. It was a Tuesday. I had overslept and was rushing to get ready when my younger brother, who had already gone to school, walked back through the door—his face and clothes streaked in black soot. He thought it was strange, but we blamed it on the weather. None of us realized how serious it was until my parents checked the news: a severe wildfire was heading towards our home in Irvine, California.
Everything after that felt like a whirlwind. My mom grabbed the important documents from the safe in her bedroom, my dad told us to pack quickly, and my brother—terrified—broke down crying. I led him upstairs, helped him pack, and tried to push aside my own fears to comfort him. Balling my hands into fists so they wouldn’t shake, I kept telling him we’d be okay—not because I was brave, but because I was in denial that something so devastating could happen to us.
As we left home, it looked like we were driving through a horror movie: the sky was black, orange embers glowed through the haze, and soot flew into our eyes and lungs. I could barely see past the end of our street. That night, we stayed in a motel hours away, not knowing if we’d have a home to return to. Thankfully, we did; others weren’t so lucky.
These memories came rushing back to me as I read about Matthew’s and Daniel’s wildfire detection system. Their project didn’t just impress me, it made me realize that age isn’t a barrier to creating impact. While we often use age as an excuse to not begin, Matthew and Daniel, who are younger than I am, have already built something capable of protecting families from the kind of fear and uncertainty mine lived through. It forced me to rethink what it means to be ready, and to stop postponing action until I feel “qualified.” It forced me to rethink what it means to be ready—to stop postponing action until I feel “qualified.” Like the two of them, I’m learning to trust the resources and experience I already have, and to believe that they’re enough to begin. Moreover, reading the Wharton Global Youth article “Brothers Develop a System to Predict and Detect Wildfires” didn’t just inform me about innovation, but reminded me that the most meaningful ideas often come from deeply personal places, and the instinct to protect the people you love.
Hi Audrey!
Thank you for sharing your experience of evacuating from a wildfire. I’m glad to hear that you, your brother, and your parents made it out OK and that your house was also spared. Many people don’t realize how cruel climate change can be. SkyScouts founders Matthew and Daniel were inspired by the fires that broke out in Maui, where their parents were married. You were displaced by a wildfire. Both of your stories have reminded me of my own close brush with climate change.
About four years ago, an atmospheric river (that’s a long, narrow stream of concentrated moisture) brought a month’s worth of rain to my city – Vancouver, British Columbia – in just two days. I distinctly remember worrying that my house might be flooded and that we’d all have to evacuate.
Luckily, I live at a higher elevation, so my neighborhood escaped the flooding entirely. But my family was affected in many other ways. First of all, the incessant rain and wind made it almost impossible to go outside without the fear that you could be trapped by a flash flood. I remember going to the store with my dad to stock up on supplies – and then realizing that so many essentials like bread, milk, and of course toilet paper (?) were being rationed. Only later would I learn that this was caused by landslides severing two vital arteries (the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific rail routes bringing goods to Vancouver from the east). At the gas pump, gas was also being limited to 30 liters per customer. This was done in order to divert the remaining fuel supply toward powering search and rescue vehicles. Like you, I was horrified that my town, usually a peaceful and beautiful place, had begun to turn into a dystopian landscape.
The heavy rains started during the Remembrance Day long weekend. When I got back to school on Tuesday, me and my classmates shared our stories and I realized just how devastating the floods had been for some people. Many families had their basements flooded and had to deal with the aftermath. One of my best friends, Noah, had gone to a mountain resort over the weekend to ski. He and his family were trapped in that small town with hardly any supplies. While the resort was just four hours away by car, it would be nine days before the waters would recede and highways would clear enough for him to make his way home. And this wasn’t even the worst of it: hundreds of people had to be airlifted to safety, having spent hours or even days trapped on lonely stretches of highway.
One thing I admire about the Persky brothers’ startup is that it focuses on preventative, not curative measures. By combining the powers of AI, data analysis, empathy, and collaboration, Skyscouts is able to tackle wildfires before they start. This is in contrast with most methods of control that fire departments use today.
You mentioned how you realized from Matthew and his brother’s story that age isn’t a barrier to impact. For the longest time, I too thought that I needed “experience” and “knowledge” to make a difference. I thought that success as an entrepreneur would be guaranteed if I had those two things. Of course, I never had more than a vague idea of what those words really meant. But reading this article has helped me understand that the best kind of experience is firsthand. It comes from a deep understanding and personal experience of important issues – like wildfires and floods. Like you said, youth like you and me need to trust that we can navigate the business world to cultivate such change as Daniel and Matthew did.
I believe that more young people should advocate for the issues they believe in. After all, our generation stands to lose much more from the climate crisis than the billionaire CEOs and politicians of today. So let’s not wait to be “ready”. Let’s apply our skills, knowledge, and dreams to build impactful projects like SkyScouts.
For Matthew and Daniel, the wildfire on Maui Island in Hawaii touched their hearts and ignited their determination to find solutions. As a California resident, I have also witnessed with my own eyes how the Los Angeles wildfire caused friends to lose their homes. Even my high school had to suspend classes due to the fire. I was also stressed and panicked to learn that we needed to evacuate our cozy home in Calabasas as the fire continued to spread. In that moment, I felt like I had little control over what was going on around me.
I find Matthew and Daniel’s story inspiring. As I reflected on what they have done, I also considered how I might be able to make a difference in a difficult situation. As someone who had never had to experience a wildfire or evacuation, it would have been helpful to have a checklist of what to bring with us. Therefore, I think it would be beneficial to create a community site in which we could share recommendations of what to pack and to organize supply donations for those in need. In hindsight, I think having a bag prepared with a face mask, water, portable solar charger, phone, flashlight with batteries, ID, protein bars, and packable jacket, would have made the experience less stressful and restoring a bit of control to a situation that cannot be controlled. I hope others also find inspiration from their actions to create in their respective communities too.
Hi Audrey!
Thank you for sharing your experience of evacuating from a wildfire. I’m glad to hear that you, your brother, and your parents made it out OK and that your house was also spared. Many people don’t realize how cruel climate change can be. SkyScouts founders Matthew and Daniel were inspired by the fires that broke out in Maui, where their parents were married. You were displaced by a wildfire. Both of your stories have reminded me of my own close brush with climate change.
About four years ago, an atmospheric river (that’s a long, narrow stream of concentrated moisture) brought a month’s worth of rain to my city – Vancouver, British Columbia – in just two days. I distinctly remember worrying that my house might be flooded and that we’d all have to evacuate.
Luckily, I live at a higher elevation, so my neighborhood escaped the flooding entirely. But my family was affected in many other ways. First of all, the incessant rain and wind made it almost impossible to go outside without the fear that you could be trapped by a flash flood. I remember going to the store with my dad to stock up on supplies – and then realizing that so many essentials like bread, milk, and of course toilet paper (?) were being rationed. Only later would I learn that this was caused by landslides severing two vital arteries (the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific rail routes bringing goods to Vancouver from the east). At the gas pump, gas was also being limited to 30 liters per customer. This was done in order to divert the remaining fuel supply toward powering search and rescue vehicles. Like you, I was horrified that my town, usually a peaceful and beautiful place, had begun to turn into a dystopian landscape.
The heavy rains started during the Remembrance Day long weekend. When I got back to school on Tuesday, me and my classmates shared our stories and I realized just how devastating the floods had been for some people. Many families had their basements flooded and had to deal with the aftermath. One of my best friends, Noah, had gone to a mountain resort over the weekend to ski. He and his family were trapped in that small town with hardly any supplies. While the resort was just four hours away by car, it would be nine days before the waters would recede and highways would clear enough for him to make his way home. And this wasn’t even the worst of it: hundreds of people had to be airlifted to safety, having spent hours or even days trapped on lonely stretches of highway.
One thing I admire about the Persky brothers’ startup is that it focuses on preventative, not curative measures. By combining the powers of AI, data analysis, empathy, and collaboration, Skyscouts is able to tackle wildfires before they start. This is in contrast with most methods of control that fire departments use today.
You mentioned how you realized from Matthew and his brother’s story that age isn’t a barrier to impact. For the longest time, I too thought that I needed “experience” and “knowledge” to make a difference. I thought that success as an entrepreneur would be guaranteed if I had those two things. Of course, I never had more than a vague idea of what those words really meant. But reading this article has helped me understand that the best kind of experience is firsthand. It comes from a deep understanding and personal experience of important issues – like wildfires and floods. Like you said, youth like you and me need to trust that we can navigate the business world to cultivate such change as Daniel and Matthew did.
I believe that more young people should advocate for the issues they believe in. After all, our generation stands to lose much more from the climate crisis than the billionaire CEOs and politicians of today. So let’s not wait to be “ready”. Let’s apply our skills, knowledge, and dreams to build impactful projects like SkyScouts.
When I first heard of SkyScouts, I was trulyimpressed, but not simply because of the technology, but due to the philosophy of taking fear and turning it into foresight. Most people hear about wildfires in the headlines and feel helpless. In spite of that, the moment Daniel and Matthew heard about smoke, they took the proactive step of going searching in order to find sparks. The shift in mentality—from passive observers of crises to proactive problem-solvers for crises—is what entrepreneurship means to me. The fact that they emphasized prediction, not detection, also really resonated. Too often, we simply accept that crises just happen, and we only act when they happen. They argued for advancing prediction, to be able to use data, patterns, and/or other probabilistic frameworks, to be able to be able to see clearly when or where fires will occur sufficiently enough that we can eliminate catastrophes before they ever get the chance to grow and spread to becoming disasters. Additionally, it raised for me how misunderstood resilience is as a concept. We tend to understand resilience as bouncing back from a bad event; True resilience—like SkyScouts— is anticipating the inevitable, and not additionally to thinking about conditions in your foresight about how to prevent the worst outcome from happening. The brothers story also anchored me back to a personal story as well. My grandmother would say “a small leak can sink a big ship”. At the time, I thought she was admonishing me not to be careless. In fact, the Persky brothers are the inverse of her proverb: while it is hard to fathom a small intervention—a single prediction, or one alert, saving thousands of acres, homes, and life. That is a takeaway worth remembering in a world that seems inescapably crippled by a limitless number of large problems. We may see the extreme threat of climate change, but progress is almost certainly a function of a series of small, accurate, preventative actions. Furthermore, it was refreshing to hear the brothers seek feedback from fire chiefs early in their process. Many young innovators tend to be intensely attached to their vision and few, if any, have the humility approaching their vision like an expert would, and let themselves be modified by them. To me, this is just another form of “prediction”: predicting that your insights are always uncompleted and forging processes that will allow the realities consequences to modify your conception.
SkyScouts shows that youth empowerment is not about waiting until you’re older to act, but candidly about finding the courage to treat your imagination as a working prototype. It leaves me wondering: how many actual crises could be reduced if more of us treated our ideas not as daydreams, but as tools to test against the real world: grain by grain, spark by spark?