Work to expand networks of cameras in the U.S. West continues, as land managers and researchers keep their eyes on wildfires that regularly spring up in the region. A few months ago, we covered several of the networks, including Alert Tahoe, which is a newer one that recently helped fight the Hot Pot wildland fire.<\/p>\n
That fire exploded in northern Nevada on July 2, 2016, after a thunderstorm provided its initial spark. Within 30 hours, it burned around 120,000 acres in an area nearly 25 miles north of Battle Mountain, Nev. <\/p>\n
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, in partnership with the University of Nevada, Reno, funded five live-broadcast cameras on remote mountain peaks in central and northeastern Nevada last fire season using the University’s private high-speed internet system that\u2019s capable of transmitting seismic, environmental and climate data. It can also support live-streaming high-definition video from the cameras.<\/p>\n
The cameras are infrared-capable and come with pan-tilt-zoom capability, providing 360-degree panoramic views from high mountain towers. A tower-mounted camera on the 7,800-foot-elevation Midas Peak, about 40 miles north of Battle Mountain, helped monitor the fire.<\/p>\n
In one video of the raging fire, viewers can see the massive plume of smoke rising off the mountains. In another, taken a few hours later, planes can be seen dropping retardants onto the conflagration and halting the blaze in its tracks.<\/p>\n
Network managers say that the cameras are strategically placed to provide a landscape overview. All of the cameras are equipped with on-demand, time-lapse functions that allow playback through different time periods. <\/p>\n
With that feature, dispatchers and duty officers can review anomalies and gather a local picture of what\u2019s happening, or what\u2019s already happened, within the field of view of a camera. And the network overall gives managers a real-time picture of what\u2019s happening from both a weather and fire-behavior standpoint.<\/p>\n
Top image:\u00a0Wildfires burn in Colorado, June 19, 2013. (Credit: NASA, International Space Station)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A growing network of cameras are monitoring wildfires in the West. Some recently helped responders put out the Hot Pot Wildland Fire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":26227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7],"tags":[345,174,103,202],"class_list":["post-26228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-atmosphere","category-news","tag-earth-atmosphere","tag-forest-fire","tag-news-2","tag-university-of-nevada"],"remote_post_permalink":false,"remote_post_featured_image":false,"yoast_head":"\n