‘You can watch the smoke:’ cameras overlooking Nanaimo on constant wildfire watch

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The technology will serve as an extra layer of early wildfire detection, on top of ground and aerial monitoring, automated weather stations, and satellite imagery to watch for hotspots.

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The cameras were installed Aug. 4 and have already been called into action.

Mjaaland said alerts were sent on Tuesday, Aug. 18, when smoke was seen coming from forested land behind Ladysmith.

He added the cameras “could clearly see it was a fire,” with Mosaic then reporting the situation to the Coastal Fire Centre.

Alerts were also triggered just before 10 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 19, when the system detected a possible fire in south Nanaimo.

Mosaic officials relayed information to Nanaimo Fire Rescue, who determined it to be steam from a forestry company.

The cameras were purchased from Vancouver-based SenseNet Inc., a company which specializes in early wildfire detection sensors, cameras, and other technology.

Mjaaland said the system sends video and data to SenseNet’s cloud, where it is eventually overwritten by new data, similar to many home security camera systems.

“We’ve always been looking for advancements in technology and how it could benefit us. Other companies have approached us with different technologies, and drones, for instance, would be one. SenseNet also has sensors that can pick up the particulates of smoke, but we found that the cameras and the resolution of the cameras and the AI abilities would benefit us.”

The cameras are affixed to a metal tower with other communications equipment installed on it.

Mjaaland estimates another five cameras are probably needed so they can monitor for smoke stacks on their and neighbouring land comprehensively.

“We looked at Mount Washington and Mount Arrowsmith, we’re looking for existing infrastructure and power sources. We did some landscape analysis, a viewshed analysis, to see how much land the camera could cover.”

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