Cameras using AI technology are coming to Morro Bay. They're designed to spot fires as small as 1 meter x 1 meter in size and up to five miles away.
The cameras will be installed on a fire engine, the water reclamation facility and the water tank located off of Nutmeg Avenue.
The water tank camera will be focused on the waterfront area, the water reclamation facility camera will be focused on Black Hill and the fire engine will help find hot spots on fire edges and detect an electric vehicle's battery temperature after a collision.
“If there’s something that can find a fire that could potentially wipe out the neighborhood, I’m happy to have it here,” said Morro Bay resident Woody Clark.
The cameras use a radio metric thermal sensor that takes the temperature of the surface. That sensor allows for the detection of hot spots through smoke and fog.
Sytis Technologies Project Manager Dane Stephenson used to be a firefigher for Morro Bay back in 2002 and shared what it's like to be able to bring this technology back to his old station.
“I was born and raised on the Central Coast and, yeah, it’s great to come back and take some of my knowledge of fire science and apply it to our technology,” Stephenson said.
Morro Bay Fire Chief Daniel McCrain says that the cameras were donated by Sytis.
“That’s great..Anything to help the community, and certainly if we don’t have to pay for it, that’s even better, but just glad that there’s someone here that wants to help keep us safe," Clark said.
McCrain said these cameras will help with more than fire detection.
“We could look for shipboard fires as they start, climbers on the rock or water rescues to locate the victim in the water and we can use the thermal imaging to locate those victims,” he said.
Firefighters will be able to use an app to see the cameras as well as receive notifications on what it detects.
The cameras are entering a testing phase right now to fix any bugs before they are put to use.
