Countywide Firefighting Technology May Soon Be Expanded

San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts said that the county is heading in an exciting direction when it comes to monitoring and fighting wildfires.

In September 2010, Roberts’ spearheaded an effort to provide approximately $36,000 in funding toward FireSight, an extension of High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN). Through that program, 16 remote access video cameras were purchased and installed atop radio towers on Red Mountain and Mount Woodson in northeast San Diego County, providing 360-degree imagery of remote, backcounty areas.

Cal Fire Capt. Mike Mohler said images from those cameras were used to help combat the , which burned more than 14,000 acres in East County before it was fully contained.

“When the Eagle Fire was called in, images from one of the cameras was brought up and was used to let units know that not only had a fire been confirmed, but also its potential size,” Mohler said. “The cameras also let us know the wind speed based on what the smoke looked like and helped responding units better know its location.”

Roberts, although excited about the current FireSight system, said his office has been working with Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Labs to develop a system that is even more advanced.

“The regional system we’re discussing would not only help us detect and track fires, but would let us know all the way down to where trucks and firefighters are at any given point through the use of GPS technology,” Roberts said. “It would help us to better coordinate all of our ground and aerial efforts. This type of infrastructure could play a significant role in minimizing major threats when we have them because we’ll have ongoing capability of knowing where these are, the predicted models of where they’re going, and we’ll be able to tell firefighters if they need to get their butts out of somewhere if a fire is traveling in their direction.”

Although the exact cost of this system has not yet been provided, Roberts said he has requested Lincoln Labs to provide his office a business plan. That business plan is expected back "any day now," according to Roberts.

“I promised them that if they put something reasonable on my desk that does all the things we’ve talked about doing, including using cameras, airplanes, coordination of ground efforts and the ability to know exactly where firefighters are at any given time and knowing where a fire will likely be going, that I promise in one way, shape or form to get this funding together,” he said.