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BLM Utilizing Mountaintop Cameras To Help Combat Wildfires

University of Nevada, Reno

The Hot Pot fire has burned nearly two hundred square miles of rural land near Battle Mountain. One tool area fire crews have been using is a new live-stream remote camera system.

The Bureau of Land Management is using new mountaintop cameras operated by the University of Nevada, Reno's Seismological Lab to help fight fires.

Paul Petersen is state fire management officer for the BLM. He says the cameras help departments manage their resources.

“Whenever we get a report of a fire, we’re able to turn the camera to whatever that location is, confirm it and if the fire’s higher than what the response level dictates for that day, we can also adjust that response level from our dispatch centers.”

The BLM currently has five live-stream cameras throughout remote areas of central and northeastern Nevada, and plan to add two more this year. Petersen says this is more than most regions.

“There’s a couple in southeast Oregon that do some remote lookout towers with cameras, but there’s like one or two of those. This is probably the most wide-scale use as far as remote camera system.”

The cameras are placed on top of existing radio towers and use the university’s network to transmit video. 

Noah Glick is a former content director and host at KUNR Public Radio.
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