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webAI and Qwake Announce Collaboration to Advance Fireground Predictive Intelligence
Partnership aims to bring edge AI to emergency response to help fire departments get ahead of critical incidents.
Mar. 16, 2026 at 11:01pm
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webAI, an AI platform that brings intelligence to data, has announced a strategic collaboration with Qwake Technologies, a company that embeds sensors and AI directly into emergency environments. The partnership is exploring how webAI's edge intelligence infrastructure can pair with Qwake's critical operations platform to provide fire departments with more real-time, mission-critical technology to stay safe and get ahead of crises.
Why it matters
Fire departments are facing unprecedented budget pressures, yet the tools they use have changed little in decades. This collaboration aims to leverage AI and edge computing to give incident commanders better information at the moment it matters most, potentially helping them manage risk, improve operational effectiveness, and expand capacity without needing additional resources.
The details
The first step in the collaboration is developing an escalation prediction tool that could help fire departments anticipate and respond to critical incidents before they escalate. webAI's approach of bringing intelligence to where data originates, rather than moving data to where intelligence lives, aligns with Qwake's strategy of embedding sensors and AI directly into emergency environments.
- The partnership was announced on March 16, 2026.
- webAI will discuss the collaboration with Qwake at a fireside chat at SXSW on March 16, 2026, in Austin, Texas.
The players
webAI
An AI platform that brings intelligence to data, enabling organizations to build and operate private, custom models with complete data sovereignty, real-time performance, and predictable economics.
Qwake Technologies
A company that embeds sensors and AI directly into emergency environments, unlocking operational intelligence from the inside out for cities across the country.
David Stout
Founder and CEO of webAI.
Sam Cossman
CEO of Qwake Technologies.
What they’re saying
“AI shouldn't live in a distant cloud. It should be a practical tool that helps people in their own communities.”
— David Stout, Founder and CEO of webAI
“Today, C-THRU puts sensors on the people and vehicles closest to the crisis. That gives us real-time data from inside the most dangerous environments on earth. webAI's edge intelligence has the potential to accelerate our roadmap from rapid response to prediction, and that could meaningfully expand how cities protect their communities.”
— Sam Cossman, CEO of Qwake
What’s next
The escalation prediction tool is the first step in a broader vision that webAI and Qwake share for what intelligent infrastructure can look like across cities.
The takeaway
This collaboration aims to leverage AI and edge computing to give fire departments more real-time, mission-critical technology to stay safe and get ahead of crises, potentially helping them manage risk, improve operational effectiveness, and expand capacity without needing additional resources.
