Cal Fire is using artificial intelligence to quickly respond to fires in some of the Bay Area's most remote areas.
The technology is helping crews monitor dozens of Alert California cameras by notifying Cal Fire when smoke is detected in Santa Clara, Contra Costa and Alameda Counties. On Wednesday, it also helped firefighters battle a small fire near the Altamont Pass.
"I will get an email of the anomaly and I can click on the approximate location," Cal Fire Santa Clara Capt. Jameson Potter said while demonstrating the technology at the agency's emergency operations center in Morgan Hill.
Specialists can move the cameras to zoom in on a possible fire and get a precise location when they are alerted to an anomaly like smoke. Cal Fire then deploys crews to investigate the area.
The agency's research data specialists are also monitoring weather patterns daily.
"Weather plays a huge factor and so we monitor weather patterns and lightning strikes," said Chelsea Burkett with Cal Fire's Santa Clara unit.
Lightning was a concern this week and a strike was detected Monday near Los Gatos.
The data is also helping crews determine the most effective strategies to battling a blaze by assessing weather patterns and how a fire might grow.
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