ALERTCalifornia is a University of California San Diego based public safety program working with firefighters and first responders to reduce wildfire risks and better understand their impacts. The ALERTCalifornia system currently provides 2,500 users with access to over 1,000 state-of-the-art PTZ wildfire cameras and associated tools to help rapidly assess, confirm, and dispatch appropriate resources to incidents – improving response times and lowering suppression/recovery costs.

The system includes sophisticated, easy to use, AI wildfire detection functionality that can determine a fire’s location and alert users through various methods. The multifaceted ALERTCalifornia research team utilizes the third generation of UC San Diego’s wireless camera network and other advanced technologies to also study pre-fire conditions, active fire behavior, and post-wildfire disasters; this includes capturing high-density lidar and multispectral data that accurately characterizes the ground surface and canopy of fire-prone areas to better understand forest health and improve models.

This two-pronged camera and data driven approach aids in the development of effective and time-critical plans for wildfire resiliency, prevention, response, and mitigation in California. ALERTWest is expanding this successful university/private model to other fire impacted states and looking to partner with agencies of all types whose mission is wildfire response and mitigation to deploy more cameras throughout the country.