The second largest wildfire in Arizona’s history is being fought by 800 firefighters, three command centers, and communication network using BelAir’s Mesh Networking products supplied by NAS wireless.
Sparked by a flash of lightning, the the 250,000 acre Cave Creek fire burst into flames and into the history books with a wildfire that stretched over a wide area from Cave Creek to Black Canyon City.
NAS wireless, a wireless integrator, was called on to create a temporary wireless network. Using BelAir nodes, the company provided a scalable wide-area wireless broadband system.
Deployed in less than 24 hours, the temporary Cave Creek network was built with BelAir200 wireless, multi-service switch routers and BelAir100 wireless multi-service nodes. It provides high speed internet access to all levels of the fire fighting operation including logistics, communications and air operations.
The massive Cave Creek fire was managed from three command locations which were completely supported by the BelAir/NAS wireless mesh network. A four-radio BelAir200 system was installed on the roof of a support vehicle stationed at the Falcon Field airport near Mesa, Arizona, to provide fire managers with a satellite uplink to the internet. A dual-radio BelAir100 node was mounted at the Cave Creek airport to provide a DSL connection to the internet for 120 firefighters.
The wireless mesh network was completed by a BelAir200 providing access and backhaul and a BelAir100 that provided Internet and Intranet access to press and firefighters monitoring the fire from the Incidence Command Post (ICP) at the Sonora Desert middle school, which was the headquarters for the entire Cave Creek firefighting operation.
“Wildfires move fast and we knew it was critical to have a reliable wireless network deployed at Cave Creek as soon as possible to help the firefighters,” said Jim Bradfield, CEO of NAS Wireless.
“We were pleased to be able to help the Cave Creek firefighters with a fast and reliable wireless network,” stated Phil Belanger, Vice-President of Marketing, BelAir Networks. “We have a responsibility to the communities in which we work and we were proud to work with NAS Wireless to support the firefighters.”
All BelAir network products can be centrally managed and monitored by the BelAir BelView NMS, a comprehensive software package that allows network operators to easily configure, monitor and manage a complete network.
BelAir can also use third party management software like Pronto.
Pronto and BelAir teamed up with SA Unwired.net to offer wireless Internet service in the downtown San Antonio. Pronto s OSS is hosted at Pronto s data center. This is Pronto and BelAir’s first deployment together.
The Chicago Fire Department is field-testing handheld computers, providing incident commanders with layouts and floor plans of buildings. Information can be uploaded to the devices while in route to a scene.
A new Firehouse Automated Systems Technology (FAST) project aims to enhance training, increase efficiency and accountability, and reduce costs at all Chicago firehouses. Mayor Richard Daley said that Chicago’s city government has become a national leader in the use of technology.
HPWREN has pioneered many techniques for utilizing WiFi in fire operations. The University of California, San Diego department deployed a Wi-Fi link to help fire fighters in a remote site last year within hours of a request for help.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) deployed more than 1,700 firefighters, 10 helicopters and several bulldozers to battle the blaze.
“The connectivity provided to CDF for the Coyote Fire was a real-life exercise that clearly demonstrated how valuable and useful the technology provided by HPWREN is to our agency. HPWREN provided us an invaluable service that cannot be overestimated.” The 19,000-acre Coyote Fire was contained by July 24l, 2004, and controlled by July 27.
HPWREN reached the Coyote Fire camp via line-of-sight wireless links from the UCSD campus, to the nearby Cuyamaca Mountains, then to Palomar Mountain and finally to the CDF camp–a distance of more than 70 miles.
Earlier, the HPWREN team connected the CDF’s Ramona Air Attack Base so firefighters to remotely access high-resolution still and video cameras, as well as other sensors located throughout the county. The link also provides access to Internet data such as satellite maps, infrared imagery, forest fuel conditions and weather at remote sensors in support of emergency situations. The CDF’s Red Mountain fire station is also connected to HPWREN.
Oregon Wildfires are costing millions of dollars and precious lives (map). The Clark Fire (east of Springfield, Oregon), last year, burned about 5,000 acres. The estimated cost of fighting the 2-week-old fire was $8.5 million.
A Wi-Fi network that WILL save Oregon millions of dollars could happen almost overnight. But forest service bureaucracy is (apparently) clueless.
Perhaps high schools could save the forests (and get access to a state-wide network), if they prepared a report for the Forest Service. Trees and dollars WILL go up in smoke and cost millions the further it’s delayed. Guaranteed.
Only YOU can prevent forest fires.
The Homeland Security Act of 2002 designated the Office for Domestic Preparedness as the principal federal agency responsible for the preparedness of the United States for acts of terrorism, including coordinating preparedness efforts at the federal level, and working with all state and local emergency response providers.
Below are the Assistance to Firefighters grants awarded to each state.
The Daily Wireless Portland to Seattle Wi-Fi route proposal outlines a system that might save the Forest Service millions of dollars.
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