The only place where this news item has appeared to date is on the ABC Riverina news. I will be keeping an eye out for reports from either the CSIRO or Bushfire CRC.
It isn’t clear from the news report below (I have added the link to the company involved) but the technology is pole mounted cameras that scan a 360 Degree scene in the visible and infrared spectrum in under 10 minutes.
The Company made an extensive submission to Victoria’s Bushfire Royal Commission indicating that a decision to make a full implementation of their system had to be made by October 2010.
The CSIRO and Bushfire Co-operative Research Centre lit fires to see how quickly the smoke could be detected and 98 per cent were picked up by the Firewatch technology.
The tool has been used in Germany for nine years but this is the first time it has been tested under Australian conditions.
The managing director of Firewatch Australia, David Goodrich, says it now hopes to extend the trial across all of New South Wales and the ACT.
“It is the most successful technology in the world and Australia deserves the very best technology and we hope the Federal Government will support this extended trial to the highest risk areas across the country so that we can embed this system into existing emergency services’ management practices,” he said.
Experts fear a dangerous fire season in the mountains and grasslands after all the rain.
Mr Goodrich says the technology has led to a 90 per cent reduction in forest fires in Germany.
He says he hopes the Federal Government will now agree to extend the trial to high risk areas in all states.
“Each Firewatch sensor can cover up to 65 kilometres from the tower, so we’re proposing a five tower network in southern NSW, across the Tumut area and into the high risk areas in the ACT as well,” he said.
Source : ABC Riverina News
There seem to regular updates about this trial on the AFAC site and you can contact the CRC researcherer involved. A couple of links are:
http://www.afac.com.au/news_and_media/fire_news2/news_items/trial_of_bushfire-detection_technology
and
http://www.dbcde.gov.au/funding_and_programs/digital_regions_initiative/round_one_funding/round_1_submissions/north_east_victoria_bushfire_spotting_and_response_service
and
http://www.bushfirecrc.com/news/cameras.html
Kate, I greatly appreciate this comment and the relevant links you provided. They certainly provide much more of the background to those trials.
All the links are about the announcement of the start of camera trials. What will be interesting to see is any publication of results from those trials by the Bushfire CRC, CSIRO and/or AFAC. Thankyou again for your input
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