Spotting wildfires early gets firefighters on scene faster and enables them to extinguish flames before they can spread. After recently installing a Pano AI camera, supported by Xcel Energy, firefighters in Summit County, CO praised the system’s early detection capabilities. As CBS News reports, the early notice provided by the fire-spotting cameras alerted Breckenridge emergency responders, who contained the outbreak to an area covering less than an eighth of an acre.
“We know we are going to get some false alarms, it’s shown us campfires, totally legal campfires,” stated Mathew Benedict, of the Red White and Blue Fire’s Wildland Division. “It’s learning Summit County and that’s part of the progress, but when we can get a location, an actual lat/long and drive straight through it instead of going through the process of finding, which often time with wildfires can take an hour, just trying to figure out a location and access and figure out all the stuff and then get the troops there…it means a lot.”
The Pano AI camera is mounted high atop a cell tower pole where it scans for possible fires and relays that information back to firefighters like Benedict. In areas prone to wildfires, the vigilant electronic eyes can quickly pinpoint dangers and dispatch help, reports CBS News. Benedict said he believed that the Pano AI cameras could be invaluable in speeding up response times.
There are now 40 of the AI cameras in use in Colorado, with 60 more on the way. Michelle Aguayo with Xcel Energy commented that the cameras have proved to be especially effective in high risk areas.
“We really are hoping to see more investment from state and federal fire agencies because they have massive jurisdictions and they have the ability to deploy this technology at a grand scale,” stated Sonia Kastner, CEO and founder of Pano AI. “We need 15,000 panel stations to cover the high and medium fire risk across the United States.”
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