NEWS-CAL FIRE new fire-spotting technology

Amador Ledger Dispatch:

CAL FIRE putting new fire-spotting technology to work

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

- Kelly Enos

CAL FIRE Amador-El Dorado Unit Chief Bill Holmes, left, and Dick Hess. Holmes made a presentation on new firefighting technology Monday afternoon during the Amador Fire Safe Council meeting.

Photo by: Courtesy to the Ledger Dispatch

For Bill Holmes, Amador-El Dorado unit chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, it's amazing what a little networking can accomplish.

In 2003, Bill Teie, a retired CAL FIRE deputy director of fire control, stopped by to visit Holmes and see what the "rookie" unit chief was up to. This led to a conversation on the need to replace the detection systems that budget cuts had reduced years before. These "lookouts" were staffed by permission only during critical fire season and lightning storms. Only a few of these lookouts were manned by volunteers or funded by fire safe councils and local government.

While touring the emergency command center in Camino, Teie stopped at the 160-foot-tall communications tower. As the two looked up at the tower, Holmes said he wished there were a camera and fire detection system that could spot and locate new fires. Teie quickly replied that such a system existed, sparking a quest that resulted in the implementation of the Fire Hawk Forest Watch Program three years later, which was the subject of an Amador Fire Council meeting Monday afternoon.

It's a program that's existed for a decade in South Africa, Holmes said during his presentation on the latest in fire protection, including the remote viewing cameras. For the past 10 years, the African country has used a system of cameras linked together, run through a software program and piped into a dispatch center.

Holmes learned the information from Jake Oosthuizen, a fire chief in South Africa who was using the system and is also part owner of the technology. Holmes and Oosthuizen exchanged information about the system that was being used in ZuZuland.

"I was excited about trying such a system," he said Monday. All he needed now was the money and permission for such a project. "Getting the permission was one thing, finding the money was another," Holmes said.

He applied for grants and was approved to buy one camera, one video monitor, two computer cathode ray tube screens, a joystick and hundreds of feet of cables. On Aug. 14, 2005, Oosthuizen and his partner Dr. Gavin Hough arrived in Camino to put all the pieces together work. A little more than a week later, the system was up and running and had spotted its first fire.

The system itself is unique in that it is much different from the human lookout towers. Holmes said the lookouts still provide a function, but aren't comparable to a system that can operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The system not only spots fires, but gives the location on a road layer map as well as a topographic layer.

The computer is loaded with global imaging system datum for the local CAL FIRE unit and the Eldorado National Forest. In one instance last fire season, a 911 call came in from the Georgetown area where the reporting party could not give a location. Fire Captain Dale McGill spun the camera around and was able to respond resources right to the fire's location.

"The system pinpoints the exact area where the fire is," Holmes said. "This saves resources and allows us to make better management decisions."

The camera rotates around every three minutes, analyzing each of its 21 vectors for movement and change from what it saw the last time it went around. If it detects what it believes is a fire, it will sound an alert and a special symbol and box will surround the detection screen. The detection screen is one of two CRT screens that comprise the system, the other being a map display. The camera can then be taken over by a dispatcher for manual operations such as zooming and spotting any new fires that have been detected.

The computer's ability to store the last 4,000 revolutions of what the camera has seen made it possible last summer to zoom in on several wildland fires and watch the aircraft make drops and see the spot fires take off. For investigative purposes, the system can verify the start time of the fire and also the exact location where it started.

"Now we have a date and time stamp on any new starts for later investigations and a time lapse photo history of the fire for any critiques," Holmes said.

Holmes has just received another grant to buy three additional cameras, which will be placed on Mt. Zion, Pine Hill and the Tahoe Basin. Although the free year they were given on software has run out, Holmes said bidding companies would help to keep the costs down now that there is more than just one company with this technology.

"Our ongoing cost is up in the air," he said. "It can run anywhere from $500 to $1,500. I hope with the competitive bidding the cost will go down."

Holmes also added that this year the fuel beds are at the critical stage already. This is his 39th fire season and, so far, his driest.

"It all depends on the weather in California," he said. "We could have a bad season or a not so bad season. We just don't know."