From the use of artificial intelligence to sending drones into dangerous fire scenes, Cal Fire is more ready than ever to tackle wildfires across the state.
From the use of artificial intelligence to sending drones into dangerous fire scenes, Cal Fire is more ready than ever to tackle wildfires across the state.
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From the use of artificial intelligence to sending drones into dangerous fire scenes, Cal Fire is more ready than ever to tackle wildfires across the state.
As peak fire season continues, Cal Fire is utilizing new technology to better prepare for fires and provide the most updated information to the public.
Cal Fire launched a new website that now serves as a one-stop shop for people to look up each fire that is currently burning across the state.
“It gives us the ability to provide the public real-time information on fires, evacuations, animal shelters and all things related to emergency incidents,” Cal Fire Deputy Director of Communications Nick Schuler said. “It’s critical to get the information to the public, not just for situational awareness, but to promote transparency in government.”
Schuler said the website was developed last year, but all the features just came online recently. Those include a map of the fire perimeter provided by intelligence aircraft, live air resources tracking, information about evacuations, pictures of the fires and up-to-date data on containment percentages.
“Just within the last several weeks, the ability to provide real-time information has just occurred. What does that mean? Nearly 600 updates a week on incidents that are happening throughout the state, 24 hours a day,” Schuler said.
The live data tracking is all thanks to huge advances in technology.
“It’s a highly complex system that actually Cal Fire has developed. It’s an intelligence management platform that pulls in multiple feeds of information,” Cal Fire Deputy Director of Technology Scott Gregory said.
The website also embeds live videos from ALERT California wildfire cameras. There are around 1,100 of them across the state. A newer update to the cameras involves artificial intelligence being able to spot smoke and thus provide Cal Fire the ability to more quickly and efficiently respond to fires.
“What happens in our emergency command centers throughout the state is they position the cameras for an area of interest, and when something pops up within that camera, a feed, it will then populate on the screen, so that gives then them the ability to take immediate action,” Cal Fire Intelligence Program Staff Chief Phillip SeLegue said.
On Cal Fire’s side of things, the artificial intelligence on their ALERT California cameras will show a red box over the smoke. Then those newly-detected fires will appear on a map of the state that Cal Fire uses to monitor all active fires.
SeLegue said after proving to be useful and reliable during a testing period last July, the new AI technology is in all 21 of Cal Fire’s emergency command centers across the state. He said that technology, along with drones and other equipment being sent to the fire lines, help crews tackle the fires.
“Now there’s the reliance on it. Now there’s a trusted source that we’re able to collect all of those feeds, so that folks on the ground can make those agile, tactical decisions,” SeLegue said.
Cal Fire said they also recently secured an additional 20 helicopters and 4 airplanes. Five of the new helicopters are equipped for night flying missions, something the agency has been ramping up in recent years.
Here are key websites that are important for all Californians during wildfire season.
| MORE | A 2024 guide for how to prepare for wildfires in California | Track fire conditions across Northern California regions with our Fire Threat Index
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