Destruction from the Camp Fire was one example of the devastation caused by wildfires in the state in 2018. Issues surrounding fires will be the focus of the Wildfire Summit to be held at Sac State on March 20-21. (Photo courtesy of California OES)Sacramento State will host California’s first Wildfire Technology Innovation Summit this week, welcoming experts from around the nation to campus to discuss how to prevent and manage fires that last year burned 875,000 acres in the state.
The conference, Wednesday and Thursday in the University Union, will bring together state and local government representatives, academics, utilities, industry specialists and others to work on strategies for reducing risks from wildfires.
Leonor Ehling, director of Sac State’s Center for California studies, helped plan the summit.
“We cannot just accept devastating wildfires as the new normal,” said Michael Picker, president of the California Public Utilities Commission, the event’s chief sponsor. “We can develop game-changing solutions and get ahead of the problem.”
Climate change and drought have been linked to a wildfire season that now extends throughout most of the year in California. Fires have killed more than 100 people during the past two years and destroyed thousands of homes.
The summit is designed to bring key entities together to discuss tools for preventing such devastation in the future.
Topics of discussion will include:
- Statewide deployment of weather stations and cameras paired with meteorology and fire behavior models.
- Visual recognition technology designed to analyze satellite imagery to determine fuel conditions near utility lines.
- Fire modeling tools to support fire departments and emergency responders across the state.
- Increased adoption of aerial patrols and advanced imaging for vegetation management and inspections of utilities.
For information, cost and a draft agenda, go to the summit website. – Cynthia Hubert