Smoke-detecting cameras with wide views across California landscapes are gamechangers in how quickly they notify firefighters to respond to growing wildfires.
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00:00 And California firefighters, they're getting ready
00:03 for early warnings across the state when wildfires begin,
00:07 all thanks to Alert California
00:09 and a network of more than 1000 cameras
00:11 along with help from artificial intelligence.
00:14 Philip Seelig is Staff Chief of Fire Intelligence
00:19 for CAL FIRE, and our Brie Guy asked him
00:22 how these cameras are helping firefighters.
00:24 - It really gives us a good upper hand
00:29 on that early detection.
00:31 So when smoke is identified across a landscape,
00:36 this system gives us the ability to have a jumpstart
00:40 on initiating a dispatch to send resources
00:44 to keep that fire at its smallest incipient size.
00:49 Our goal for CAL FIRE is to suppress 95% of our fires
00:53 at 10 acres or less, and this definitely assist us
00:56 with that early notification, that detection,
00:59 so that we can dispatch resources.
01:02 - How does AI spot fires exactly?
01:06 And once the camera spots something,
01:08 how are CAL firefighters notified?
01:11 - The AI driven technology has definitely increased
01:15 our situational awareness for that early notification,
01:18 that detection.
01:19 So as those pan, tilt, zoom cameras are looking out
01:24 across that landscape, that high definition
01:27 is really within the first about 20 miles or so daytime,
01:31 but is up to about 70 miles that it can actually see
01:34 or validate that there is smoke upon the horizon.
01:38 Once that AI detects something,
01:41 it gives us a notification, and that notification,
01:44 we receive it either from a text message,
01:48 or an email, or now even a robocall.
01:52 And once that's received by our dispatch centers,
01:55 then they're able to make the determination,
01:57 is this valid, is this a smoke,
02:00 and are resources required to respond?
02:02 - Can you tell us about the rabbit fire
02:05 in Riverside County back in July?
02:07 How did the cameras help with that fire in particular?
02:11 - The cameras, the AI had seen that smoke
02:15 across the landscape and identified
02:17 a secondary smoke as well.
02:19 So as resources were in route to a fire,
02:23 once the rabbit fire had started,
02:25 we were able to see through the camera system
02:28 that there is a second fire as well.
02:30 - How long has the Alert California system been operating?
02:34 And is California the only state
02:36 with this type of early warning?
02:37 - So we've had a very strong partnership
02:42 with Alert California and the UCSD system
02:45 for the last several years,
02:47 and they have been building this framework,
02:49 this network of cameras across the landscape.
02:52 As you had said, well over a thousand cameras
02:55 within the network.
02:57 - Philip Seelig, Staff Chief of Fire Intelligence
03:00 for CAL FIRE, thank you so much for joining us.
03:03 - Thank you.
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