In recent years, ALERTWildfire has folded additional players into this process, including collaborating with artificial intelligence and machine-learning companies. To avoid having them shutoff during power outages, some run on solar power, while others are backed up by generators. Meanwhile, Kent and his team are in charge of troubleshooting and trying to keep the cameras online as wildfires burn around them. Kent says cameras are positioned based on intel from local fire authorities, and officials are given access to “pan, tilt, zoom, or move cameras around” virtually to best monitor any unfolding events. ALERTWildfire claims its cameras were used to provide “critical information” about more than 1,000 wildfires between 20.
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“These camera systems are another tool in the decision-maker’s toolbox to improve decision-making based on real or near-real-time information,” a representative from the Forest Service, which also helps fund the initiative, tells Popular Science.įor example, the Forest Service utilizes the cameras to observe changes in weather and forest conditions, confirm smoke reports without having to deploy any aerial equipment, and help firefighters determine how to mount their response to growing wildfires, among other uses. The Bureau of Land Management, local governments, and utility companies are among the public and private sources supporting its expansion across the region. Partnering with state, county, and private utility services, ALERTWildfire installs cameras on existing microwave network infrastructure. A consortium of three universities- the University of Nevada Reno, the University of California San Diego, and the University of Oregon-run it, with cameras stationed in each of their states, as well as Washington, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho. “Early on, I think people thought we were crazy, except for about three firefighters,” Kent says.īut today, ALERTWildfire has become a go-to resource for numerous government agencies, first responders, researchers, everyday folks on “ Fire Twitter,” and residents in camera-covered regions. The first ones were installed in Lake Tahoe in 2013. So, he decided to leverage that knowledge and network, setting up cameras on it that could be used to monitor the landscape for fires. Kent, who is also the director of the seismological laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno, had experience setting up microwave links to collect and communicate seismic data in the West.
What stuck with him the most from the experience was the lack of reliable fire intel he felt was accessible to the public-a common concern of wildfire evacuees and even to the firefighters themselves.
In 2003, the Cedar Fire burned through Kent’s San Diego neighborhood. “You can get that situational awareness, you can look at the wind patterns and see how it’s going in many places-you can look at it from three, four, five, ten different angles, so you kind of can see what’s happening every minute-by-minute,” explains Graham Kent, founder of the ALERTWildfire system. With a hot, dry summer and high-fire risk forecasted for the region, the system’s operators and partners are in the process of a multi-million dollar expansion in Oregon, and eyeing opportunities in Washington and Colorado, states that have all experienced record-breaking wildfires in recent years. The goal is to provide officials with an easily-accessible source of intel in fire-prone areas, often offering a multi-angle view of wildfires and, as of recently, utilizing AI to act as an additional analysis tool. Over the past decade, this ALERTWildfire network has grown from a few cameras around Lake Tahoe to about 1,000 in seven states, as well as some in Australia.
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The 24/7 feeds are free and accessible online, provided with the hope that the public will not only tune in but also look out for signs of smoke or a spark, potentially helping alert authorities about blazes before they pose a threat to communities.
Across the Western United States, there’s a network of cameras streaming images of mountain peaks, coastal communities, quiet suburbs, and thick forests, revealing dramatic sunrises and the occasional wildlife encounter.
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