Vernon invited to participate in UBC-SenseNet ultra-early warning wildland fire research project

Photo: DVA

Vernon has been invited to participate in an ultra-early wildland fire research project.

The University of British Columbia and SenseNet research program would use emergent technology for the early detection and reporting of wildfires at no cost to the city.

Council will consider the proposal Monday and is expected to direct administration to complete negotiations on the proposal.

SenseNet would provide a remote wildfire monitoring and management platform operating via cellphone and computer that would provide alerts for early wildfire detection and also information for wildfire management to operators.

The company would install a network of devices to collect environmental data from forested close to the city and would provide an app and website to remotely monitor the forests.

The pilot project would start in August and end in 2024.

The system is designed to share information with other agencies and organizations, and each new system
installed in a region would increase its effectiveness, the proponents say.

lt is expected the system would increase the accuracy of local weather and fire condition monitoring
in real time.

ln the event a fire does start, the system should be able to identify the speed and direction of fire
spread.

A network of 10 to 15 sensors can blanket an area of 1,000 hectares, and in higher risk areas more sensors can be added. The research project is expected to deploy 50-100 sensors.

The sensors would be mounted high in trees or on poles.

A small research project in Williams Lake in 2021 demonstrated the effectiveness of the system, and a larger scale, longer duration project is now sought to further validate the system.