DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — This week, a lightning strike in a remote section of Douglas County wilderness could have led to disaster.
“Really, nobody could see that fire,” said Mike Alexander, director of Douglas County’s Office of Emergency Management. “No one was able to see the smoke.”
Luckily, a camera that uses artificial intelligence did see the fire Sunday near Turtle Mountain. It sent out alerts and coordinates to first responders.
“We receive these alerts through our cell phones and email, and we're able to then take a look immediately at live footage of the alert,” Alexander explained. “Without that notification from this camera, we wouldn't have known about this fire until it was either too late or too large to do something about it.”
It took wildland firefighters two hours to get to the remote fire on foot, but Alexander and Douglas County OEM were quickly able to launch their helitack crew and firefighting helicopter, which was over the fire and dousing flames in about 30 minutes. In less than four hours, the fire was contained.
“This kind of response that we've put together here in Douglas County is nearly unparalleled,” Alexander said, noting that the cameras are a big improvement to traditional fire reporting from lookout towers or 911 callers.
“Smoke can be very deceiving to the human eye,” he said. “One of those benefits to getting alerts from this technology is that it zeros in on precise coordinates, especially when the cameras, multiple cameras, are able to triangulate, it shows us exactly where that fire is. So we don't waste time trying to find a fire.”
Denver7 first told viewers about Pano AI cameras last summer.
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Douglas County OEM says the network has kept growing: there are now around a dozen in, or very close to, the county. The cameras are funded through a partnership with utilities Xcel Energy and Core Energy.
“It's a combination of county, local responders, state and federal agencies, as well as technology providers like Pano AI and the utility providers,” Alexander said. “We all work together seamlessly to attack this problem.”
Last fall, Denver explored the reality of year-round wildfires in Colorado in our special "Burned Out." You can watch it below.
Douglas County Board of Commissioners Chairman Abe Laydon is also the founder and chair of the Douglas County Wildfire Action Collaborative, and says he took a more active role in advocating for a stronger wildfire response after the Chatridge 2 Fire burned near Highlands Ranch in 2020.
“Where other governments may be afraid of artificial intelligence, we're seeing the potential benefits, and particularly when it comes to public safety, leaning into AI, leveraging that technology with our human experts,” Laydon said. “It's working.”
Laydon told Denver7 that the cameras, combined with being the only county in the state with this dedicated helitack team, are critical when a fire can break out really any time of year.
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Laydon says the county’s commitment to the aerial wildfire response has “made progress.”
“From having it here during the warmer months, to having the year-round contract,” he explained. “The next iteration would be to have this helicopter physically here year round. Every second counts when it comes to a wildfire.”
Laydon also tells Denver7 if voters approve the county government to become home rule on Tuesday, commissioners “could integrate aerial firefighting like this into the [Home Rule] charter.” He also wants more support for the aerial firefighting effort from outside the county to expand its reach.
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“We did make a formal request of the Metro Area County Commissioners, which are all seven counties in the Denver metro area, to contribute a modest $350,000 to ensure we have the helitack crew to fight fires in the entire region,” Laydon said. “As of right now, none of those counties have said yes, but my goal is to move that forward and make sure we have that regional support in the future.”
Both Laydon and Alexander urge everyone to sign up for emergency alerts through their home county. In Douglas County, those alerts are called CodeRED. Alexander says firefighters responding to a wildfire is only part of the solution.
“It's in preparedness, it's in prevention, it's in mitigation and recovery,” he said. “I would ask the citizens of Douglas County to understand that ultimately, they need to be prepared for their own safety.”
