Cameras Alert For Wildfires In California

Dec 1, 2006 12:00 PM

After firestorms raged through Southern California in 1993 — destroying more than 300 homes with a combined loss in excess of $500,000, Laguna Beach residents created the Greater Laguna FireSafe Council to take preventive steps.

The non-profit community organization said they have since worked successfully to reduce fire threats, and to maintain a “Red Flag” patrol that works in conjunction with the local fire department, providing much-needed extra eyes during high-risk days.

The council is deploying Sony IPELA SNC-RZ25N cameras, linked by wireless networks, to help catch, contain and extinguish flareups before they become wildfires. The cameras, along with the council's other fire prevention projects, bring peace of mind to the community while also addressing insurer's concerns about providing coverage for the area, the council added.

“The IPELA cameras are a powerful aid on what we call the ‘scary days' when the Santa Ana winds, low humidity and low moisture content in vegetation makes for a perfect trifecta of hazardous conditions,” says David Horne, founding chair of the Greater Laguna Coast FireSafe Council. “The ability to connect to the cameras wirelessly to inaccessible areas provides the extra warning to stop fires before they spread or, at worst, to give us more time to get people to safety.”

Horne says that site selection using a geological survey to determine the best locations happened this summer. Cameras were placed beyond the reach of foot and car patrols in wildlife/urban interface areas. In one remote location, the camera operates “off the grid,” powered by solar-charged batteries.

Those dispatched to investigate possible flare-ups now do not have to approach suspected hotspots blindly, Horne says. They can continue to access the critical video, and operate the cameras with wireless-connected laptops and hand-held computers.

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