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CAMINO —
High tech cameras in the forest - it's the latest arsenal in fighting wildland fires, and firefighters say it's just the beginning."Because of the era that we're living in... cell phones, Twitter, Facebook, camera surveillance system, wireless, the technology is growing and we're trying to use it to the best that we can to help us in the fire service," Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said.
Three cameras, strategically placed at the Camino command dispatch center, Big Hill lookout, Pine Hill north of Cameron Park, cover countless acres of the El Dorado National Forest.
"It is a broadband pipe that carries broadband traffic into remote areas," said Jim Cinquini, president of Vicom Wireless.
"This allows us images of the actual fire into the command center where we can make appropriate decisions on response," Cal Fire Battalion Chief Justin Sanders said.
It'll save thousands of dollars from unnecessarily sending out resources such as fire retardant planes.
"Whether it's a small build, whether it's just white puffy smoke, whether it's coming out of a chimney," said Div. Chief Mac Heller, of the U.S. Forest Service.
The efficiency of the cameras replaces the need to staff lookout towers, although the battalion chief says they can still put people in them when needed.
"When we get a fire report through the 911 system, we'll verify, we'll grab the camera, we'll spin it around and take a look at the smoke itself," Heller said.
A state grant paid for the cameras, perched high above an area that has been devastated by fire in recent years.
"Our region is really at just as much of a risk as southern California and that's why we're using these type of technologies, here in the Sacramento region as well, to help us be more efficient in our fire response," Berlant said.
An additional camera is planned in Heavenly, above Lake Tahoe.
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