Extract from ABC News
New fire spotting cameras have been installed on fire towers in state forests across southern NSW. (Supplied: Pano AI)
In short:
New cameras using AI have been installed in southern New South Wales forests and are spotting fires before they have a chance to spread.
The state government and private timber companies have invested $9 million to install and operate 36 cameras across southern NSW.
What's next?
The cameras will be used throughout the 2025-2026 bushfire season.
The panoramic view from Catherine Clarke's office, of timber plantation treetops and farmland, stretches as far as the eye can see, in every direction.
"When the weather's volatile you're on alert the whole time, especially when there's high winds," she said.
"Machinery can cause a spark at harvest time, hay can self-combust … so that can start a grass fire and it can get going very quickly."
Spotting fires as they break out is a big ask for the human eye, so new high-tech cameras have been commissioned to make Ms Clarke's job more effective.
Catherine Clarke sees the cameras as an important addition to her role in monitoring for smoke. (ABC News: Emily Doak)
The Kendall Fire Tower, located in the Green Hills State Forest near Adelong, is one of 25 overlooking state forests in NSW.
Tower operators are required to report to the Forest Corporation of NSW office every hour, with updates on wind speeds, temperatures and haze in the area.
"They can have a look on their cameras and send crews out," Ms Clarke said.
"If they believe it's smoke, they need to act on that."
The Kendall fire tower is one of 25 that monitors fire plantations across the state. (ABC News: Emily Doak)
Technology for early warning
The NSW bushfire inquiry after the 2019-2020 fires recommended greater investment in remote sensing technology for early detection.
Thirty-six AI cameras have now been installed by the Rural Fire Service, National Parks and Wildlife Service, Forestry Corporation of NSW and private timber companies.
The $9 million initiative has positioned the new technology to cover black spots, scanning the landscape for changes that indicate a fire has ignited then alerting fire authorities.
Twenty-two cameras are operated by the state government, Rural Fire Service and Forestry Corporation, while 14 are privately run.
Cameras have been installed by the Forestry Corporation of NSW and private timber companies. (Supplied: Softwoods Working Group)
Carlie Porteous, general manager of Softwoods Working Group, which represents the plantation-based timber industry, said the technology recently detected a fire in the Carabost State Forest early on a Sunday, a time when watchtowers would usually be unmanned.
"That camera picked up that fire within a couple of minutes and it was responded to and put out within two hours," she said.
"That could have been a very different story if we were waiting for someone to spot it."
Carlie Porteous says the cameras are filling the gaps not monitored by fire towers. (ABC News: Emily Doak)
RFS Riverina Highlands District operational officer Mathew Mill said the cameras also provided valuable information about the resources needed to fight a fire.
"It enables us to identify the severity of the fire, how quickly it's growing in size," he said.
"We can then look at the direction that it's going and then we can send more crews."
Mathew Mill says early detection makes a big difference in firefighting. (ABC News: Emily Doak)
Mr Mill said that was particularly important when fires had started in rough terrain.
"That early detection will allow us to then perhaps put on aircraft to that fire," he said.
Mr Mill said it also gave crews an idea of threatened assets that were in path of a fire.
Fire a key risk for timber industry
During the 2019—2020 Black Summer bushfires, 45,000 hectares of pine plantations were burnt in the south-west slopes, halving the local timber industry's production.
Roger Davies says fire is one of the biggest threats to timber plantations. (ABC News: Emily Doak)
Forestry Corporation regional manager Roger Davies said since then, more than 30,000 hectares had been replanted, but it would take decades before the saw logs could be harvested.
"It's a 30-year project. It takes a long time to get the quality of saw logs you need for housing construction," he said.
"We really needed to lift our game in terms of how we could detect, prevent and extinguish any fires that are in the landscape threatening this resource."
The state government's $13 million Plantation Fire Protection Program has also funded automatic weather stations, water storage and a fire fighting unit that can handle the rough terrain of plantations.
NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said the projects had been identified to "collectively deliver the maximum fire protection, hazard reduction and response capabilities for plantations and communities in the region".
More than 30,000 hectares of burnt pine plantations have been replanted since the 2020 bushfires. (ABC News: Emily Doak)
Despite the AI camera technology, fire tower operators like Ms Clarke are still needed in the watch tower.
"I don't think one can do without the other in this job in this area," she said.
"I don't think AI has caught up with the natural eye."
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