High-Tech Cameras Keep Watch Over OC's Fire Prone Areas

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — It is a familiar story to Orange County residents: A thick column of smoke breaks out in the wildland. Maybe residents or fire watchers see and report it early enough, or perhaps the smoke goes unnoticed until Santa Ana winds fan embers into an unstoppable blaze.

As we have learned in Southern California, we are all at the mercy of wind-driven fire and as Orange County Fire Authority has told Patch in the past, "All you can do is get out of the way." The sooner officials know of a potential flare-up, the faster resources can set about extinguishing the fire, saving lives and property in the process.

Today, the University of San Diego and the University of Nevada, Reno, has released multi-hazard camera technology in the hopes of detecting fire as it occurs.

These high definition lenses that make up the ALERTWildfire Camera Network will connect fire departments from Orange County to San Diego, across California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Idaho to enable time-lapse, high definition imagery that will help firefighters learn about active burn areas in record time. The 70 cameras in southern California, 160 total throughout the project area, have a pan-tilt-zoom function, as well as infrared night-vision for smoke detection at any hour, a UCSD spokesperson said.

In late fall, 2018, officials recruited "fire watchers" to keep an eye on the fire-prone areas.

"Joining Orange County Fire Watch is one of the most crucial things a volunteer can do right now to protect Orange County's neighborhoods and open spaces from wildfire," said Orange County Fire Watch Program Manager, Tony Pointer (orangecountyfirewatch.org). "If we come together as a community to get involved and try to reduce accidental or intentional human ignition sources, we can help preserve and protect Orange County's wilderness and the surrounding community."

Fire officials will have full control of the cameras to monitor fires, triangulate on fire locations at their earliest stages as well as to confirm 911 reports.

“Before the cameras, we relied on reports from fire agencies and the media, as well as on-scene observations by our crews to address wildfire activity in our service area,” said Don Daigler, SCE’s director of business resiliency, who helps oversee operations during wildfires, severe storms, and earthquakes. “The fire-monitoring cameras provide real-time images that we can rely on to protect our customers, communities, and equipment from the ongoing threat of wildfires.”

Orange County Fire Authority used the cameras, in cooperation with the university and So Cal Edison, for a pilot program in early summer, 2018. Just three months later, in August, Division Chief Brian Norton used those cameras to monitor the Holy Fire as it burned in the Santa Ana mountains.

According to Norton, the cameras showed "the likely time the Holy Fire originated," Norton said. The cameras documented a flare up near Santiago Peak.

“The true functionality of the ALERTWildfire camera network is realized when they are deployed in clusters as it allows for confirmation of 911 calls, situational awareness for first responders, and triangulation to determine the fire location”, said Neal Driscoll, geosciences professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and co-director of the project.

Though the infrastructure was originally designed to detect earthquakes, the fire watch system has already proved invaluable, according to officials. The cameras have discovered over 500 fires since their original installation.

Though winter of 2019 has doused Southern California with rain, wildland brush will follow over spring and summer. The Santa Ana winds will blow. The ALERTWildfire network will remain on active watch over the Orange County hillsides so that you can rest easier.

For more information, read: ucsdnews.ucsd.edu