Recently, a popular Nigerian supermarket in Abuja had one of its stores burned down by a suspected arsonist.
In shocking CCTV images made available to the public, the suspect walked into the section of the store containing lighters and gas cylinders and appeared to have started a fire. Within a short time, the fire spread rapidly. And by the time firefighters arrived, it was too late to salvage the situation as the store was burned to the ground.
Shortly after the incident, the inquisition into what happened began.
People wanted to know:
- What kind of fire alarm systems did the store have?
- Was anyone watching the CCTV footage in real-time?
- Could anything have been done to prevent this ugly situation?
The answer is yes, something could have been done.
If an artificial intelligence (AI) driven system was processing the CCTV images, there would have been no need to have someone glued to a CCTV monitor. The AI system would have intelligently detected the rising temperature in the store and triggered an alert or alarm to notify the store manager. Also, if that system had been connected to the store’s emergency fire system, the outcome might have been different.
In today’s world, technology has made it easier to eliminate situations like this. There are many companies around the world that provide solutions that make CCTV cameras more intelligent. These solutions have become popular in the global retail space and, in numerous cases, have helped to avert catastrophic disasters. But not many are aware that those same solutions are also available right here in Nigeria.  Companies such as inq.Digital Nigeria, a cloud and digital solutions provider, offers a range of video- AI solutions. Their video analytics service takes your video surveillance system to the next level by using AI-enabled software to automatically review your feeds in real-time.
One of the key features of their solution is heat map analytics and fire detection. So, if the system discovers any abnormal activity in your environment, like even the smallest fire, you automatically get alerted. You can also integrate this notification system with your emergency fire system for greater autonomy.
​​The good news is that this solution works with your existing (or any) CCTV camera. To guarantee high levels of accuracy, the solution uses deep learning and continuous updates from data gathered by your security devices.
For more information about how video analytics can make your business safer and more productive, please visit:Â ng.inq.inc
