A little afterwards 06:25 On November 8, 2018, a 911 distributor received the first report of a fire near the Poe Dam in Northern California. Nineteen minutes later, firefighters saw that would become known as the Camp Fire. Drought has dried out plants in the area, and strong winds blow in the direction of paradise, a city 10 miles to the southeast. “It has a potential for a big incident,” fire chief Matt McKenzie told the incident.
An hour later, hot spots rained on the south side of paradise and brought before the main front. Within 40 minutes after the first place that set fire to fire, the main front reached the city. The campfire will burn for another two weeks, destroy paradise and kill 85 people. This is, along with the recent LA fires, one of the most expensive wildfires in American history.
The speed and destruction of recent wildfires drew attention to early detection – the hope that catching a fire shortly after it was set on fire will be set on fire to give it enough time to make it disappear before it becomes uncontrollable. Cameras, satellites and tree-mounted sensors are all designated as ways to identify flames while starting, but firefighters warn that early detection has its boundaries-and in some cases no early detection can stop the worst fires from burning.
As was the case with the Camp Fire, Form 911 calls are still the majority of the first tracks, says Marcus Hernandez, Deputy Chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Office for research and developing wildfire technology. Cal Fire also uses Alertcalifornia, a network of over 1.144 high-definition cameras across the state that can see up to 60 miles during the day and 120 miles at night. The camera network is based on UC San Diego and is monitored by fire staff by command and control centers across the state.
In mid-2023, Alertcalifornia added the ability to automatically detect smoke columns from his camera footage using AI. “Only the situational awareness that comes from the strategically located cameras has been an advantage before the giant jump is related to AI -Anomaly tracking,” says Hernandez. Cal Fire also uses a system called Fireguard that uses military satellites to detect heat from wildfires. ‘It just puts us attentively to check our other tools to find out if there is a fire or not. We are going to be shipping automatically. “
Dryad Networks, a startup in Germany, wants to improve off -wildfire early detection by adjusting trees with remote sensors that can detect smoking from wildfire. ‘It’s a low cost, solar-powered gas sensor, such as an electronic nose. This is similar to what you have on the ceiling in your home, but it has been built there and wireless communication, ”says Carsten Brinkschulte, co -founder and CEO of the company.
According to Brinkschulte, each device costs about $ 104 and can protect about a hectare of forest. California alone has about 13 million hectares of forest, but Brinkschulte says his business wants to focus on much smaller areas at high risk where wildfires are more likely to start. Interest areas for Dryad include near train lines, roads, hiking tracts and power lines, which have been linked to more than 3600 California wildfires since 1992, including the Camp Fire.