Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service is trialling the use of artificial intelligence to help detect bushfires using remote cameras.
Staff and contractors recently installed a fire detection camera at Mount King William in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park.
Within 24 hours, the smoke detection AI alerted fire crews to a very small smoke column about 20km away.
PWS staff and contractors installing the new fire detection camera on Mount King William.
Fire Operations Manager Richard Dakin said the technology is still being tested and refined but is already proving very effective.
“This AI technology developed in Tasmania, by local contractors, will assist us in meeting our key controls of early detection and rapid response to new bushfires," he said.
“In large wilderness areas, satellites and cameras provide some of the best intelligence available for new bushfires."
PWS is responsible for managing over three million hectares of reserve land and fire cameras are proving a useful tool for detection and situational awareness of running fires.
Further fire camera installations are planned to help gain coverage of the landscape PWS manages and will eventually allow triangulation for determining a very accurate detection location.
The camera detected its first plume of smoke within 24 hours of installation at a distance of approximately 20kms away.