Rob James (Firestory)
Australian cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) bushfire intelligence platform Firestory has hired Rob James as its managing director.
James was previously Chief Digital and Information Officer at Vodafone and has been brought on board to drive the next phase of growth for the Firestory, which was developed by technology company Kablamo in the wake of the 2019/2020 bushfires.
In addition to his telecommunications experience, James previously served as group chief technology officer at Qantas.
In his new role as managing director, James will help to accelerate development of the Firestory product, interface with Australian and global fire agencies, and develop Firestory’s ecosystem of firetech partners.
“Rob brings a wealth of leadership and technology experience, including in aviation and communications - both of which are extremely relevant to the Firestory vision.” said Angus Dorney, co-CEO of Kablamo. “That someone of Rob’s calibre has chosen this role is an exciting sign of the potential impact of the product, and the future of the Australian Firetech industry.”
Firestory’s platform builds on Kablamo’s experience of developing an AI/ML cloud platform for Victoria Department of Environment Land Water and Planning.
The DELWP solution has enabled Victorian fire agencies to perform advanced risk assessments and predictions for bushfire risk across the entire state, based on more than 40 years of bushfire data.
Similarly, Firestory combines human-centred design, cloud technology, data science and AI to enable enhanced operational decision making by fire agencies.
Firestory can turn almost limitless amounts of bushfire data into decision-making intelligence, all on a “single pane of glass”. In turn, fire agencies are provided access to real time data and insights, presented via an easy-to-understand user interface, which can inform critical operational decisions.
