Santa Monica Mountains

ALERTWildfire Surveillance Cameras

The wildfire risk in the Santa Monica Mountains has intensified as the climate gets hotter with stronger winds.

Communities recognizing the effects of climate change are working on many fronts to make their communities more resilient. The Santa Monica Mountain communities supported their local fire departments by collaborating with university researchers on the ALERTWildfire program.

Hilly landscape with trees, bushes, and houses, with mountains in the background and partly cloudy sky.

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy Advisory Committee, with a focus on wildfire safety policy, was crucial in helping secure agreements from agencies and property owners to get the work done. And volunteers helped secure sites for the ALERTWildfire camera system.

To achieve the mission of optimizing evacuation mobilization opportunities, this community continues to fund additional fire-spotting cameras and drone surveillance systems for the Sepulveda Pass and ridges of Mandeville Canyon.

These state-of-the-art cameras provide high definition, near-infrared views to firefighters, first responders and the general public. And help firefighters and first responders locate fire ignition, quickly scale fire resources, monitor fire behavior, support evacuations through enhanced situational awareness, and ensure contained fires are monitored appropriately through their demise.

Two technicians working on a tall telecommunications tower with multiple antennas and satellite dishes against a cloudy sky.

Source: ALERTWildfire.org is a consortium of three universities: The University of Nevada, Reno, the University of Oregon and the University of San Diego. And the UC San Diego AlertCalifornia.org program has installed more than 100 cameras in Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties.