California updates video surveillance for forest fires

ELDORADO HILLS
March 9, 2010 1:02pm

A system of high-resolution video cameras and microwave relays has been switched on to look for wild fires in El Dorado County.

Vicom Wireless of El Dorado Hills designed and built the forest fire surveillance and detection system for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Vicom says the system’s multiple cameras connect to broadband Ethernet radios that transmit video back to a command center in Camino. Once in the command center, all camera images are displayed on a 52-inch monitor so fire dispatch personnel can view all or only one camera at a time, the company says. Each camera displays compass and elevation information that is used to accurately triangulate and precisely locate a fire, establish its size and direction, and identify access roads that could be used for appropriate fire fighting resources.

The system is limited to El Dorado County so far and it will not replace anybody who might ordinarily staff existing fire lookout towers, says Daniel Berlant, information officer for Cal Fire.

The state has 77 fire lookout towers statewide. But few are staffed regularly. The widespread use of cell phones by campers, hikers and others in the forest has essentially replaced the lonely lookouts atop a mountain, says Mr. Berlant.

The towers are “not necessarily something that is staffed every day. We do have the ability to staff them up as our local chiefs require as to fire risk,” Mr. Berlant says.

As for the new video system, the cameras will scan the treetops looking for plumes of smoke, he says.

“They’re not pointed at campsites,” he says.

"Our system now helps protect over 31 million acres of private and public forests in California, and it serves as a model for other states," says James Cinquini, president of Vicom Wireless.