A little later 6:25 am on November 8, 2018, a 911 coordinator received the first report on a fire near Poe Dam in Northern California. Nineteen minutes later, firefighters caught what would be called Camp. Drought dried trees in the area, and strong winds were blowing in the direction of heaven, a town 10 miles from the Southeast. This has had the potential for a great incident, Head of Fire Matt McKenzie has reported to the incident commander.
An hour later, the hot rain in the south of heaven, causing fire on the spot in front of the main battle. Within 40 minutes after the first fire burned, the main fire front reached the town. The camp fire will continue to burn for another two weeks, destroyed paradise and killed 85 people. That is, along with the recent fires, one of the most expensive lawsuits forest fire In American history.
The speed and devastation of recent forest fires have focused attention on early detection, hoping to catch fire as soon as it burns will give the fire team enough time to extinguish it before. It cannot control. All cameras, satellites and sensors mounted on the tree are advertised as a way to identify fires when they start, but firefighters warn that early detection has its limits and in some. In case, there is no early detection.
As in the case of the camp fire, 911 calls still account for the majority of the first findings, Marcus Hernandez, Deputy Director at the California Forest Fire Research and Development Office. Cal Fire also uses Alertcalifornia, a network of more than 1,144 high -definition cameras across the state that can be seen about 60 miles during the day and 120 miles at night. The camera network is based in UC San Diego and is monitored by fire experts at command and control centers across the state.
In mid -2023, Alerttcalifornia added the ability to automatically detect smoke columns from AI camera scene. It is just a perception of situations that come from strategic cameras that have been a benefit before the giant leap related to the discovery of AI Anomaly, he said, Mr. Hernandez said. Cal Fire also uses a system called Fireguard using military satellites to detect heat from forest fires. That only makes us alert to check our other tools to find out if there is fire or not. We will automatically send. “
Dryad Networks, a German -based startup, wants to improve the detection of forest fires early by installing trees with remote sensors that can detect fire smoke. This is a solar gas sensor, low cost, like an electronic nose. It is similar to what you have in the house on the ceiling, but it has anyone in it and the wireless media is built, according to Mr. Carsten Brinkschulte, co -founder and CEO of the company.
According to Brinkschulte, each device costs about $ 104 and can protect about one hectare of forest. California alone has 13 million ha Forest, but Brinkschulte said his company wanted to focus on smaller areas, high risk, where forest fires were more likely to start. The areas that are interested in Dryad include near vessels, roads, long -distance roads and power lines, are linked to more More than 3,600 California forest fires Since 1992, including camp fire.