RICHMOND, Va., Oct. 11, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GRID2020, Inc. announced today that its GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY® wildfire sensor capabilities were once again successfully demonstrated. The September 6, 2022 field- test was held at a training facility operated by Ventura County Fire Department near Camarillo, CA.
The field demonstration involved igniting a series of individual brush fires; ranging in size from small to medium. By lighting individual fires, then extinguishing each, the attendees were able to witness the versatile capabilities of the GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY outdoor wildfire sensor solution.
“We staged multiple brush piles encompassing nearly 1/3 acre, then individually ignited them so our attendees could visualize the incoming fire conditions data being reported by the GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY device. We also included our valuable Auto Alerts feature to direct incoming wildfire data to certain attendee’s cell phones. The Auto Alerts began streaming via text messages, indicating to attendees that GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY not only was successfully detecting the wildfire conditions, but also was providing Early Detection and swift notification capability,” said Alan Snook, company spokesperson.
Conditions for the demonstration included a clear sunny day, near record-level heat and humidity, and an intermittent prevailing wind of 5-10mph. Regardless of fires being ignited upwind or downwind, the GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY device was capturing and reporting key data for the attendees to view in real time.
The GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY device successfully detected ground-level fire surface temperature escalations, outdoor smoke from multiple nearby and upwind points of origin, and fire-induced humidity level decreases; conditions which are indicative of developing or unfolding wildfire events.
“The successful GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY demonstration spurred several discussions about the importance and impact of technology solutions in early wildland fire detection and warning,” stated Fire Chief Dustin Gardner, Ventura County (CA) Fire Department.
In alignment with their ongoing commitment to evaluate emerging wildfire mitigation technologies, Ventura County Fire Department agreed to host this important event.
Deputy Fire Chief Chad Cook, Ventura County (CA) Fire Department commented, “We are concerned about wildland fires year-round in our community, and have a very progressive mindset in leveraging technology tools, such as GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY, for the fire service to help mitigate these types of fires.”
The novel wildfire mitigation capabilities presented by GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY are earning the confidence of stakeholders. The company is now expanding its solution awareness to the electric utility industry, first responders, state and federal government officials, and local communities that are at-risk and/or have already endured the impacts of wildfire. “We hope to see a grassroots percolation of interest and request for deployment of GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY in at-risk areas,” said Snook. “We believe that as the public at-large, and vested stakeholders begin to realize that we can provide an always-on outdoor monitoring solution to create an added level of wildfire defense protections, then GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY will be vastly adopted.”
A Case Study of this recent field demonstration can be accessed via: https://gridwidefirespy.com/files/CS_Ventura_CA.pdf
To learn more about GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY, go to www.gridwidefirespy.com.
About
GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY® is an evolving subsidiary of GRID20/20, Inc. (www.grid2020.com). GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY (www.gridwidefirespy.com) is focused on delivering wildfire mitigation solutions, public safety protections, environmental damage avoidance, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. The emerging GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY solution leverages the company’s time-proven and field-proven Advanced Transformer Infrastructure (ATI)® technology and robust software capabilities of GRID20/20. Thereby providing multiple value propositions for utility operators, local/state/federal authorities, first responders, and communities. GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY simultaneously addresses critical needs such as wildfire early detection, automated alerts, certain wildfire prevention capabilities, and ongoing situational awareness data during unfolding events. This novel feature set helps to facilitate improved public safety protections, reduced wildfire rehabilitation costs, improved first responder safety, reduced post-event government budget burdens, improved environmental protections, and reduced utility operator liabilities risk.
