Posted: Saturday, October 4, 2008 10:00 pm
Surveillance to aid firefighters and cut costs
BY PATRICK LAIR
ALBANY DEMOCRAT-HERALD
SWEET HOME - Digital cameras and innovative software will soon help the Oregon Department of Forestry locate wildfires in east Linn County.
The new technology is expected to cut operating costs and response times.
"If you can catch just one fire and prevent it from going catastrophic, you've made your money back," said South Cascade District Forester Lena Tucker.
Tucker said the traditional lookouts are costly to maintain and subject to vandalism. For these reasons the Douglas Fire Protective Association started testing the camera system three years ago and they've had good results, she said.
The South Cascade District, which encompasses much of Linn and Lane counties, plans to have one camera in the forest for the 2009 fire season. Two more are likely in the near future, although locations haven't been decided.
The technology was developed by Envirovision Solutions of South Africa in 2002 and is now used in six countries. Oregon and California are the only states that take part.
"In terms of being implemented, I think we're on the cutting edge with this," Tucker said.
Here's how the system works:
Cameras are mounted on mountain summits, usually atop steel posts. They slowly revolve (about six minutes per revolution), snapping still shots of the forest. The pictures are continually transmitted to a control center by radio or wireless Internet signal. An operator in the control center can monitor the imagery of up to five cameras at a time.
But here's where the software comes in.
The ForestWatch fire protection software analyzes the photos, comparing each image to the previous one and zeroing in on changes.
The program will "hit on" smoke up to 30 miles away and a geographic information system allows the computer to pinpoint the exact location of the smoke on a map.
Operators can use the information to make immediate decisions about the discovery.
"That's the beauty of seeing it immediately. You don't have to wait for someone to get on scene," Tucker said.
The base price for a camera and software is about $25,000, with servers and monitors for the control center costing around $10,000.
Building a fire lookout can cost up to $300,000, Tucker said.
South Cascade District firefighters are funded by both the state and private landowners. They stop about 60 wildfires per year across 1.1 million acres.
Tucker said that Green Peter Lookout will continue to be manned.
To learn more about the technology, go to www.