In order to further study the application of computer vision technology in fire detection, this paper first introduces the impact of fire on human beings and how human beings use computer vision technology to give early warning to fire. Then, the relationship among artificial intelligence, computer vision and target detection are introduced, and how to realize each stage of fire detection is briefly described. In addition, it also introduces the fire detection based on machine learning, fire detection based on deep learning, and the main means and research status of optimizing fire detection at present. Finally, the future prospect of fire detection based on computer vision and the significance of improving the accuracy and speed of fire detection algorithm based on computer vision are explained.