Artificial Intelligence is having a moment, with the nascent but fast growing technology at the forefront of the struggle between relying on humans for creative work, or letting the computers take over. One use of the the tech is sure to be less controversial – and that’s CALFire’s partnership with the University of California San Diego’s ALERTCalifornia program – a network of over 1000 hi-definition cameras that can pan, tilt and zoom to create a 24-hour surveillance network that is actively monitoring and checking for wildfires. The cameras can make full 360 degree sweeps every couple minutes, and can see 60 miles ona clear day, and double that on a clear night.
Each one of these cameras don’t need human eyes on them to be effective, either. The partnership with ALERTCalifornia is also using artificial intelligence to monitor and identify abnormalities in the camera feeds, promptly notifying emergency command centers and first responders to something that needs immediate attention and response.
CAL FIRE’s has had a significant investment in the ALERTCalifornia program over the last 4 years- totalling over 20 million dollars with an additional commitment of 3.5millions in the coming years.
CAL Fire says that this collaboration with UC San Diego has proven highly successful, and as technology advancements are shared as open-source and freely accessible resources – the program hopes to benefit others and unlock the immense potential of AI
technology in wildfire prevention, detection, and response.
You can learn more about the network and view live feeds at alertcalifornia.org
