Millions of acres of forest, grassland and rural communities in the American West were destroyed, and many people killed, by wildfire in 2017. In w88 slot alone, over a million acres of wildland was burned over in one of the Silver states most active years. Despite these numbers, people, communities and millions of more acres are still under threat by wildfire today.
State-of-the-art mountaintop cameras from the University of Nevada, Reno, a new and expanding tool for w88 slot mangers who oversee the wildland and wildland/urban interface, spotted or tracked 240 fires in Nevada and California in 2017, helping to keep firefighters more situationally aware and able to mount appropriate responses more rapidly over tens of thousands of square miles of forests and rangelands, including rural communities.
“The success of our system lies in our ability to deploy wireless, microwave technology to enable high-speed Internet out in the wilderness,&w88 slot; Graham Kent, director of the Seismo Lab in the College of Science, said. “We call it the Internet of ‘Wild’ Things or wilderness Internet.&w88 slot;
The high-definition near-infrared night capable w88 slot cameras are part of the Alert Wildfire network, conceived, developed and implemented at the Nevada Seismological Lab. The network has grown from the AlertTahoe system that began with a three-camera pilot project at Lake Tahoe in 2015 to four networks with over 55 cameras covering areas of Nevada and California, including San Diego County and Santa Barbara, with an eye to Oregon and Idaho coming online soon, with several more states making inquiries.
w88 slot monitoring marries Seismic monitoring
The Nevada Seismological Laboratory monitors earthquake activity in Nevada and eastern California with a system of 200-plus seismometers connected via private high-speed internet communications, providing earthquake data to emergency managers at USGS and other public agencies. It was this communications network that supported the nascent camera network at Lake Tahoe in its early years. Today, the expanding network grows primarily through pressures to expand w88 slot coverage, which in turns, helps make a more expanded and resilient network for earthquake monitoring.
The concept at Tahoe soon mushroomed into the Great Basin of Nevada, with the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada investing in a dozen cameras strategically located to protect natural resources and rural communities. The system proved its value as cameras captured the HotPot w88 slot. The system helped w88 slot managers get a rapid deployment of resources by being able to show the explosive nature of the HotPot exploding at a pace of 10,000 acres an hour across the high desert grass and brush land, burning 100,000 acres in about one day. The cameras helped firefighters to save the small town of Midas, Nevada, which was in the path of the massive wildfire.
“Whenever we get a report of a w88 slot, we’re able to turn the camera to whatever that location is, confirm it and if the w88 slot’s higher than what the response level dictates for that day, we can also adjust that response level from our dispatch centers,” Paul Petersen, BLM Nevada director of w88 slot operations, said. “This camera network gives w88 slot managers a real-time picture of what is happening from both a weather and w88 slot behavior standpoint.”
While the concept is that the system can spot the fires when they first ignite – before they get out of control – the cameras aren’t always the means of first report. But after someone calls in a report of smoke, w88 slot managers can immediately turn the cameras to the direction of the reported w88 slot and have eyes on the w88 slot to assess the situation and determine what resources are needed. While they may deploy spotter planes to assess the situation as well, they don’t have to wait for the plane, or someone on land, to get an overview of the w88 slot scenario.
Mac Heller, manager of the dispatch center used by several agencies in the Lake Tahoe Basin, the U.S. Forest Service’s El Dorado Incident Command Center in Camino, California, said the camerashelp him determine the type of response to send to a w88 slot. Heller and his crew use the cameras daily.
“If the cameras only show a little w88 slot activity, we'll send a smaller response,” he said. "If a w88 slot is actually taking off, moving very quickly, then we can increase the response as well.We'll know in 20-30 seconds and that is the beauty of it.”
In 2017, the AlertTahoe/AlertWildfire system (with 38 cameras) was involved in a staggering 207 fires in northern Nevada and the eastern California side of the Sierra Nevada. In southern California, one solo camera near Santa Barbara played a critical role on three fires, including the Whittier w88 slot and Thomas w88 slot during its approach into Montecito. The Santa Ynez camera was spearheaded by Frank Vernon at UC San Diego and Jamie Steidl from UC Santa Barbara. The AlertSDGE system with 16 cameras, which went into operation in October 2017, was involved in 30-plus fires (with nearly half on the Mexico side of the border), including the Lilac w88 slot where a camera atop Red Mountain and Palomar Ridge followed the w88 slot from 35 seconds after the 911 call to its ultimate containment.
While the w88 slot has already successfully assisted with early detection of wildfires, it also played a critical role for early detection during an arson outbreak in late 2016 at South Lake Tahoe with some 30 fires in a 60-day period both in the City of South Lake Tahoe and th
Artificial Intelligence
In fall 2016, the fast-moving Emerald w88 slot near South Lake Tahoe started at 1:16 a.m. Though no one was watching, the cameras picked up the first signs of the w88 slot 14 minutes before the first 911 call came in, highlighting the need for an auto-detect capability that will alert w88 slot managers.
In 2017, Kent brought another partner into the w88 slot, IT for Nature from Poland, providing machine vision auto-detect and learning – software that can detect the first signs of smoke – which has been successful where implemented.
“The cameras have to be monitored for them to be most effective,” Kent said. “The on-demand time-lapse video we produce is a useful first step, but we’re excited for the auto-detect software to capture critical intel even earlier,” Kent said. “On the Emerald w88 slot video from 2016 at Lake Tahoe you can also see a smaller arson w88 slot break out in the foreground one hour, 45 minutes later. Crews were able to get a jump on that secondary w88 slot and put it out before it caused any damage to nearby homes, andthe camera played a critical role.”
“Lake Tahoe’s w88 slot chiefs have been briefed on the program and are impressed with what they learned,” Mike Brown, chief of the North Lake Tahoe w88 slot Protection District, said. “What they have to offer is awesome when it comes to early detection.”
“Basically, 911 cell phone calls typically beat machine vision this past year, but not by much, so we anticipate in the next couple years the machine will get faster,&w88 slot; Kent said. “Plus, we’ll build outreach programs to crowdsource the cameras, which will likely always be the fastest. It’s really an all-in approach to get on top of fires early on.&w88 slot;
“But right now we need to balance those efforts with building out more cameras because the greatest benefit so far is to know exactly how to scale resources up or down after the first glimpse of w88 slot or smoke. This will always be the greatest asset of the system. But over time, we anticipate that many fires will be first detected by‘machine’ and not humans.”
Multi-Hazard Approach
The University of w88 slot, Reno is in a lead position nationwide in developing the inexpensive, multi-use, high-throughput, emergency-grade internet protocol networks and expanding their use for all-hazard monitoring.
The AlertWildfire networks use and augments the Seismo Lab’s earthquake monitoring network that crisscrosses the third most seismically active state in the nation, turning the seismograph recording sites into hazard monitoring networks able to track fires, floods, hazardous weather such as ArkStorms and landslides. The Seismo Lab, working with the University of Oregon, installed two w88 slot in Washington State to monitor a potential landslide area and is working with California State Parks to help them deliver two w88 slot at the Oroville Dam in California to monitor work and environment of the dam’s damaged spillway and catch large fires such as the Wall and Ponderosa fires this past year
“With our private, high-speed internet communications network in place, these sites also easily adapt to earthquake early warning detection systems that can provide public notification of expected, potentially damaging ground shaking,&w88 slot; Kent said. “The system could be the backbone for a more resilient earthquake early warning system as the current ShakeAlert buildout is heavily leveraged on cellular technology.&w88 slot;
On Donner Summit in the rugged Sierra w88 slot of northern California, Sugar Bowl Ski Resort experiences some the highest winds – 180 miles per hour – and the deepest snows – 60 feet of snowfall – and temperature fluctuations that can originate one week in Hawaii or the next week in Alaska.
“We have partnered with our Nevada Climate Office to build out the multi-hazard concept with extreme-weather recording at Sugar Bowl,&w88 slot; Kent said. “It’s a three-camera system now top to bottom with state-of-the-art weatherrecording gauges and even an early earthquake warning station down low.&w88 slot;
“The multi-hazard approach actually helps us to build the best seismic network in the U.S.,” Kent said, “as we tend to build in a lot of resilience for the w88 slot cameras because you know you’ll have fires all the time so the network better work each and every day – all day and all night. So ironically, expansion into w88 slot has made us a very big player in the seismic arena.”
“The AlertWildfire networks epitomize our goal for community outreach,&w88 slot; Jeff Thompson, dean of the College of Science, said. “The Seismological Lab is inherently service to community, providing alerts to the public, government agencies and emergency managers. The addition of the AlertWildfire systems is a natural evolution of what our group is all about. Graham and his team have worked hard to make this happen, and it’s no wonder they’ve been successful.&w88 slot;
Crowdsourcing
While the camera system is designed for the w88 slot managers to spot and track fires, with the ability to zoom, rotate 360 degrees and tilt on several cameras at once, it is also public-facing, with the camera views available for the public to monitor 24/7.
The system allows dispatchers and duty officers at w88 slot command centers to play back the camera feed to detect anomalies and gather a local picture of what is happening, and has happened, within the field of view of the camera. More than 150 firefighting personnel have access to these w88 slot cameras in their arsenal to fight fires; users range from USFS, BLM, Cal w88 slot and local w88 slot protection districts.
“Our w88 slot cameras are controlled from Incident Command Centers such as Camino, California near Placerville, or the Sierra Front (near Minden, Nevada),” Kent said. “Many local w88 slot protection districts also have access to the samecameras.”
w88 slot managers can manually rotate, tilt, pan and zoom the camera. While w88 slot agencies can move the cameras with this active pan-tilt-zoom functionality, the public can observe the real-time views, as well as the time-lapse functions with a 15-minute, 60-minute, 3-hour and 6-hour time-lapse utility built into the webpage viewer (right-click on the camera image for options). The Seismological Lab’s YouTube channel, nvseismolab has a library of videos captured from the network.
“What is also true, crowdsourcing,if appropriately implemented, will likely beat out the “machines” every time,” Kent said. “We envision an army of volunteers on the cameras over time, especially times where w88 slot danger isgrave, and that will likely be the fastest path to discovery, with machine vision as a viable back up.”
Crowdsourcing is essentially w88 slot lookout towerswith thousands of people looking out through the forests, high-mountain deserts, rangelands, sagebrush and rural communities for puffs of smoke rising above the horizon.
San Diego w88 slot-Rescue Chief Brian Fennessy said that during the ignition of the Church w88 slot in southern California, “I could watch the smoke on my iPhone, the color, the direction, and immediately knew the resources that I needed to deploy and the time they would be engaged. Furthermore, the crews could watch how the w88 slot progressed on their iPads as they approached the w88 slot, real-time situational awareness – these w88 slot cameras are a game changer.”
The Network Infrastructure
The technology mixes new and old approaches. Lonely w88 slot spotters used to sit in towers on remote mountain tops with binoculars looking for smoke, now the cameras sit on mountaintops with a promise of better coverage. They aren’t replacing the w88 slot spotters, they are augmenting the system being deployed over many mountaintops in a region. Using existing radio communication towers, the Nevada Seismo crew installs the line-of-sight system, including the HD cameras, and microwave communications equipment.
“The advantage of having our own Internet system is that we have high-speed broadband in places there isn't any cellular coverage,&w88 slot; David Slater, senior systems analyst for the earthquake monitoring and Alert Wildfire networks, said. “Cellular coverage has limited bandwidth.Video requires lots of bits to run and with a 1080P camera we can blow through a cell plan amount in a couple of days. Even with cell service, we still couldn’t run our network to its full potential.&w88 slot;
The Seismo Lab crew travels extensively to the middle of nowhere. They cross ancient lakebeds, climb to 11,000-foot peaks and bounce through snowdrifts to get to the mountain tops with their pick-up truck loaded with tools and the components for the system. They even had a local Rotary service club help Sherpa equipment to a remote location where vehicles couldn&w88 slot;t access the site.
“It can be very challenging accessing these remote sites and not all of them can be accessed with our trucks,&w88 slot; John Torrisi, associate engineer, said. “We also have sites planned for this year that will be helicopter access only. Jacks Peak north of Elko is extremely difficult even in the summer. At 11,000 feet elevation, ‘summer’ is a very small window and since the access is so steep, we can't use vehicles. That's just one of many difficult sites. Basically they're all in very remote areas and difficult to access.&w88 slot;
The Seismo Lab designs and installs the entire w88 slot, including the camera, antennas, solar/battery power systems and enclosures containing all the networking/control equipment to make it work as a complete w88 slot. Some sites they install the tower itself and do all the concrete construction.
Funding and Collaboration
“As a mostly soft money organization, without proper funding from the feds or the state (though that might change), we have to get inventive to keep a talented staff around,” Kent said. “So cash is king for the w88 slot cameras and other sensor network projects. That said, this multi-hazard approach actually helps us to build the best seismic network in the U.S., as we tend to build in a lot of resilience for the w88 slot cameras because you know you’ll have fires all the time so it better work each and every day.”
Through partnerships, collaborations and outreach with w88 slot agencies, landowners and community organizations to fund acquisition and installation of mountaintop high-definition camera systems, the University of Nevada, Reno has made great inroads to helping many agencies with w88 slot response. They work with the BLM, U.S. Forest Service, Cal w88 slot, Nevada Division of Forestry, a dozen local w88 slot protection districts as well as other agencies such as NOAA weather service, air pollution control districts, to name a few. Fundraising also comes from the public where the Tahoe Prosperity Center helped land seven cameras in and around the Tahoe basin as they spearheaded these critical efforts.
“The first order of improvement comes with camera expansion,&w88 slot; Kent said “No other expenditure can compete in terms of impact other than just adding more cameras. There will likely be benefits by improvements in 4K camera technology (HD imagery is still better right now). The system quickly pays for itself based on the cost of operational savings, property destruction and forest management. It also provides huge benefits for other hazards, earthquakes, and atmospheric rivers. It’s a veryorganic system with many agencies to universities to business interests all involved.&w88 slot;
The University&w88 slot;s watchful mountain-eye concept has most recently been applied to the new system in San Diego County with the lab&w88 slot;s partners Neal Driscoll and Frank Vernon at University of California, San Diego funded through San Diego Gas and Electric.The San Diego County Board of Supervisors has recently approved additional expenditures of 7,000 to upgrade and build out a system throughout their county.
“The safety of my firefighters and the communities they protect is my priority, so having more information about a w88 slot before we encounter it is an added safety measure that benefits our first responders,” San Diego w88 slot-Rescue Chief Brian Fennessy said. “Having access to a live view of our highest w88 slot risk areas will greatly improve situational awareness, our coordination with CALFIRE and allow for quicker response times, better response strategies and faster evacuation orders to ensure our communities are better prepared in the face of a wildfire.”
Future Plans
“Clearly, more systems are needed throughout the west,&w88 slot; Kent said. “I’m happy with the AlertTahoe and BLM Wildland systems as prototypes –but there are plenty other areas that are in dire need of this technology.&w88 slot;
Kent and his team, along with Neal Driscoll at UC San Diego, have their eye on northern California, the Sonoma/Napa area, which was devastated by w88 slot in 2017, and hope to start this spring on building capacity there. w88 slot camera sites in southern Idaho and Oregon are also funded as Kent, and College of Science partner Ken Smith, work with Doug Toomey at the University of Oregon to move northward in 2018.
“It’s not too late for the North Bay – or an AlertNorthBay – as well over 80 percent of the region remains unburned; and much of the 20 percent that burned could burn again with large swaths near theTubbs, Atlas and Nuns Fires, which haven’t burned in 150 years. It’s scary.&w88 slot;
“All this must change if we are going to respond to fires in the urban-wildland interface, or fires after an earthquake,&w88 slot; Kent said. “With one of the driest years on record, following the wettest year (2017) – it’s a dangerous cocktail for 2018. Big timber fires such as the Rim and King fires may be a consequence of this unusual weather pattern.&w88 slot;
A nearly 3000-acre w88 slot near Bishop, California in mid-February may be a harbinger for what is ahead in 2018. With this in mind, groups from the three universities are scrambling to get as many cameras into the wilderness and wilderness/rural interface as possible before w88 slot season 2018 peaks.
