By Alex Soloducha

Provincial Wildfire Centre tech brings better detection

Jul 24, 2014 | 5:35 PM

New technology at the Provincial Wildfire Centre may mean faster identification of wildfires, and even enhanced fire prediction based on weather.

This comes after the introduction of cameras on wildfire detection towers. The 42 towers, located in the forests of northern Saskatchewan, used to be manned by actual people. 

These 28 workers were laid off in favour of the new technology in order to save resources. Although the new cameras came at a cost of $1.54 million dollars, yearly operational cost cuts are expected to be in the $200,000 range. 

So far, the camera detection rates of 13 per cent are equal to that of the detection rates of tower employees.

Steve Roberts, executive director of the wildfire management branch, says the cameras make it easier for them to broaden the area they cover. For instance, he said, new SaskTel 4G towers could be helpful as the towers are higher and cameras on them would cover a larger area. 

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“We have huge opportunities for expansion. We will be able to expand a new detection site for the cost of a camera about $20,000 or $30,000 instead of building a new tower to put a person in which might have cost us $200,000…there’s existing infrastructure that we can put a camera on that we couldn’t put a person at,” said Roberts. 

“It may also put them in locations where we currently don’t have cameras…We may be able to expand the network, still feed all those new cameras through this existing centre and give us better detection coverage.”

All the cameras send images to the Provincial Wildfire Centre just outside Prince Albert to be assessed, shared and saved. Three specialists go over the images focusing on high risk areas.
Saskatchewan’s system is now the largest wildfire detection camera system in North America, although other regions of Canada and the United States are using similar technology on a trial basis.

Still, Roberts said there will be more to come in the future. 

“We continue to look at opportunities we might be able to build on that system including this issue about pushing some of this information to our external websites so the public can see more timely information,” he said. 

This year is the second full year that the new technology has been in use.

So far there haven’t been weather problems to affect the system and the cameras were left out all winter. Roberts said rain dries quickly on the cameras and they each have a wind correction factor to prevent the image from shaking. 

All cameras have solar power with battery backup in case of technological failure. 

Besides the cameras, the centre has improved two other methods of wildfire identification. 

Enhanced weather prediction

Weather prediction has also improved. Certain weather conditions can indicate likelihood of fires in specific areas. If fires aren’t expected, fire crews from the area can be “exported” to other provinces to help with large fires. This is because of new technology to predict lightning conditions, which often start fires, and dry conditions conducive to fires.

Environment Minister Scott Moe said he’s pleased with the advancements. 

“They have the best information that they can have when they go in to the very dangerous situations that they do so often. And they have that to keep them safe but also to provide the service that they do for the people of Saskatchewan whether it’s personal property protection but also personal protection of lives across the province too,” said Moe.

New online system shares fire information quickly

With the enhanced condition and photo tracking of fires, this information needs to get into the hands of employees. 

That’s where the Wildfire Integrated Information Network comes in. It allows wildfire management to share information and resource use online amongst all employees. All facts regarding a fire are entered there, something staff said increases efficiency and makes information more accessible and up to date.

“To do your job and to take advantage of technology that’s out there and make the fire business that much more effective, we’re all for that. At the end of the day finding fires sooner, putting them out sooner and making them for effective is what we need to do in this business,” said Steve Roberts, executive director of the wildfire management branch.

Through maps and photos across Saskatchewan, staff can check where a fire is, the size of it and any other details they need to know, and possibly would want to pass on to their fire responders.

“It’s available to everyone. It’s seamless, it’s transparent, [the entire staff] in the agency sees it real time. There’s no more issues of, ‘how big is a fire?’ Everyone knows how big the fire is because as soon as soon as the area is updated it’s updated for everyone. As soon as we assign a tanker group to a fire because it has to respond, [the entire staff] sees the tankers are on their way to a fire,” said Roberts.

asoloducha@rawlco.com

On Twitter: @alex_soloducha