Governments around California may be using drones and unmanned aerial systems to monitor conflagrations and early warning systems to alert residents, but in opening remarks at a wildfire summit, a state senator said further-reaching partnerships and technologies will do much to deal with fire.
Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, whose district includes communities in Contra Costa, Napa, Sacramento, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties, saw his home base devastated roughly 17 months ago. The Atlas, Patrick/Nuns and Tubbs fires torched 144,000 acres in three counties and destroyed more than 650 homes in Napa County in October 2017.
But in remarks at the inaugural 2019 Wildfire Technology Innovation Summit on Wednesday at Cal State Sacramento, Dodd echoed his introduction from California Public Utilities Commission Executive Director Alice Stebbins in vowing to “kick wildfire’s ass.” The senator highlighted two tech-heavy endeavors he said would go a long way toward getting that job done:
• Dodd praised San Diego Gas & Electric’s Weather Center in Kearny Mesa, which he, like other lawmakers, toured last fall. The facility features what a spokeswoman said is the nation’s most dense utility-owned network of 177 weather stations in problematic fire areas. These update data on humidity, wind speed, humidity and temperature every 10 minutes. The center also deploys 15 Alert SDGE cameras, which stream high-definition footage from mountain peaks, to boost safety and fire awareness. Predictive fire modeling is also a focus: the center uses weather and GIS technology to create a Wildfire Risk Reduction Model. This enables an understanding of wildfire growth patterns through wildfire simulations, and the prioritization of at-risk areas.
The senator called it a “hub” for prediction and science, adding: “But we need much more.”
• The former Assembly member, who’s roughly midway through his first term in the Senate, stumped for his own Senate Bill 209, which calls for the creation of a California Wildfire Warning Center. It would create a statewide system of “automated weather and environmental monitoring stations” capable of doing “fire-weather forecasting and threat assessment” to assist in wildfire response and prevention, Dodd’s office indicated in a news release last month after the bill’s introduction.
The center would be overseen by the California Public Utilities Commission, the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and Cal Fire — but would also partner with investor-owned utilities. Each electrical corporation, the bill specifies, would be required to “deploy at least one weather monitoring station,” approved by the Center, for every circuit it maintains in a high fire threat area. Violation of this provision would be a crime.
“I applaud Sen. Dodd’s leadership in ensuring that local communities have the support and resources they need to prepare for future wildfire through the establishment of the California Wildfire Warning center,” Napa County Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza said in a statement.
“I totally believe that a statewide wildfire warning center working with our best academic and research organizations, along with utility companies, will result in a powerful and effective response tool,” Dodd told audience members at the sold-out event, which had more than 600 registrants. He acknowledged that “hard work” lies ahead to get the bill through the Legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
SB 209 will have its first hearing Tuesday in the Senate Governmental Organization Committee. Its second hearing will be in the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee, in April.
