Communications of the ACM
Wildfire Spotting Goes High Tech: Can Silicon Valley Save Northern California?
Fire spotters and firefighters in Norther California are becoming more adaptive to changing conditions thanks to high-technology implementations.
Credit: AlertWildfire
High-technology implementations in Northern California are making fire spotters and firefighters more adaptive to changing conditions while improving their safety.
The technology is also democratizing fire-spotting, enabling anyone to go online to view satellite and camera imagery, while interactive maps visualize fire locations.
The AlertWildfire.org system is a network of roughly 550 cameras in California, which capture a still image every second to generate time-lapse videos, and use near-infrared technology for nighttime viewing.
The network lets authorized personnel rotate, pan and zoom, and focus on suspicious smoke plumes; advanced satellite systems also provide finer spatial resolution and data processing.
Pacific Gas & Electric's Scott Strenfel said, "We can use this information to understand where fires are spreading, where they're most active, and to get rapid alerts for wildfires."
From San Francisco Chronicle
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