Donation of AI-powered infrared cameras aims to detect fires early, protect the waterfront, and enhance public safety across the city
The Morro Bay Fire Department is getting some high-tech assistance in its efforts to make the community safe from fires.
The City Council approved accepting a donation of “thermal imaging cameras to improve public safety through its automatic fire detection technology,” Morro Bay Fire Chief Daniel McCrain said.
The donations are coming from SYTIS, a San Luis Obispo company that manufactures infrared and thermal imaging cameras and software for fire detection and “automatic notifications,” using AI technology. It appears the company is donating three cameras, two fixed and one mobile.
The two fixed cameras being donated to MBFD would be pointed toward troublesome areas in town where fires have been known to start, though the fire department will continue to evaluate locations.
“One fixed location camera would be installed on City’s Water Reclamation Facility property positioned to view the Black Hills open space for detection of fires in the ‘Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone,’” McCrain said. “This area was selected due to the fire hazard severity and fuel accumulation in this open space. This area also has a history of small fires in illegal campsites.”
The flanks of Black Hill facing Highway 1 are actually State Parks’ property and the state often conducts controlled burns there to get rid of dead brush and debris.
It’s also a popular spot for homeless people who light campfires to keep warm.
The second camera is tentatively slated to go in on top of the hill in North Morro Bay.
“The second Camera is intended to be positioned on the Nutmeg Water Tank location with a view of the waterfront for identification of vessel fires in the harbor and may be manually utilized to locate victims in surf rescue incidents along the waterfront,” McCrain said.
A third camera would be mounted on a fire engine to help with a growing danger to firefighters, electric vehicles.
“The vehicle mounted camera would be installed on one of the Morro Bay Fire Department apparatus for use on emergency scenes for victim location and fire detection,” the chief said. “This will be especially useful on motor vehicle accidents involving electric vehicles to monitor the temperature of EV batteries.”
SYTIS is already selling its technology to utility companies, the transportation industry, security “and other industries for property and equipment monitoring and fire detection.”
One growing use has been by the green energy industry, such as battery storage plants, which have the danger of overheating and potentially catching fire, as happened last January at the Moss Landing Power Plant, in a 300 megawatt storage plant owned by Vistra. Use by fire departments is new for the company.
According to McCrain, “SYTIS believes their equipment can be beneficial for a public safety application with automatic fire detection and notification to alert first responders of fires during the initial stages of fire development, potentially shortening the time it takes for first responders to be notified of an incident.”
The claim is they are pretty sensitive and can detect very small fires and they’re good in foggy conditions as well, which might come in handy in Morro Bay.
“The company states their cameras have the ability to detect a 1-foot by 1’ fire from over 5 miles away using AI and thermal fire detection,” McCrain said. “The cameras are able to see through heavy smoke or fog that would obscure a standard optical camera.”
The chief said SYTIS’s CEO Darryl Mendivil contacted them about the donations.
“The CEO has a personal connection to the City of Morro Bay and would like to provide this equipment to the Morro Bay Fire Department to improve public safety,” McCrain said. “Successful application of this camera technology could provide real-world feedback on their technology to improve this public safety platform.”
The company is providing everything needed to make the cameras operational. “SYTIS will provide thermal imaging cameras and related software to the Morro Bay Fire Department and will coordinate installation with Public Works and the City’s IT Department to ensure there are no conflicts or security concerns,” McCrain said.
And it’s not cheap. The three cameras are valued at $47,100.
They are capable of reporting hot spots in real time, through a connection with an iPad or other electronic devices.
That might come in very handy in the case of a late-night or early morning fire, when most people are asleep and the town is quiet. With fires, every minute counts.
While most all fires start small, under the right conditions, a fire can erupt into a major blaze in less than a minute and within five minutes, a house can become fully engulfed in flames.
And wildfires, given dry and windy conditions and a big fuel load, can spread 20 miles in one hour.
The thermal cameras are expected to be up and running in about a month.
Feature Image: A close-up view of an SYTIS vehicle-mounted thermal imaging camera is shown. SYTIS, a San Luis Obispo tech company that manufactures cameras for automatic fire detection and notificiations, has donated cameras to the Morro Bay Fire Department. Photo courtesy of SYTIS
