Fire extinguisher presence detection via OpenMV automated inspection

Whether a fire extinguisher is in place often only becomes apparent when it is actually needed—by which time it is already too late. Relying on manual inspections results in low frequency and high risk of omissions, making sustained effectiveness difficult to achieve. OpenMV transforms fire safety inspections into an “always-on” process through visual monitoring.

In public and industrial premises such as shopping malls, industrial parks, factory workshops, and office buildings, the proper placement of fire extinguishers—whether they are positioned in accordance with regulations, whether they have been moved without authorisation, and whether they are obstructed by other objects—directly affects the efficiency of emergency response during unexpected fire incidents. Should a fire extinguisher be missing or unavailable for immediate use, the critical window for initial fire suppression is often missed, resulting in greater safety losses.

Traditional fire safety inspections primarily rely on manual periodic checks, which not only limit inspection frequency but also heavily depend on inspectors’ sense of responsibility and experience, making omissions, misjudgements, or situations where “inspections are passed but equipment is subsequently removed” prone to occur, thus hindering continuous and effective supervision.

The integration of SingTown Technology’s OpenMV smart camera upgrades fire extinguisher inspection from manual patrols to round-the-clock, automated visual inspection.

The camera is permanently installed at the designated location corresponding to the fire-fighting equipment, operating stably over the long term to continuously capture on-site images of the fire extinguisher area without human intervention. OpenMV runs object recognition algorithms on the camera’s edge device to accurately identify the fire extinguisher itself and, in conjunction with pre-defined installation zone rules, determine whether it is positioned as required. Additionally, through shape integrity and occlusion detection, the system can also identify whether the fire extinguisher is obstructed, toppled, or exhibits abnormal appearance, thereby assessing its operational readiness from multiple dimensions.

Once OpenMV detects anomalies such as missing fire extinguishers, positional displacement, or obstruction, it can immediately generate an alert signal at the edge, trigger on-site audible and visual alarm devices, or upload the event information to the management platform—achieving true “immediate anomaly detection and instant issue notification.”

Leveraging an edge deployment architecture and on-device AI capabilities, OpenMV can perform recognition and decision-making without continuously uploading video streams—thereby reducing network and storage costs while significantly enhancing system stability and response speed.

Fire inspection has thus been upgraded from “periodic manual checks” to “7×24-hour online monitoring”, effectively reducing fire safety risks and enhancing overall emergency response capabilities.