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To detect fire starts, firefighters are relying more and more on new technologies, such as cameras coupled with artificial intelligence or connected alert systems.
An over -equipped watchtower … For a year in Ardèche, next to the old stones, you can find cameras. Perched 17 meters high, they permanently scrutinize the horizon. “There is an early detection system of the fires and above the tower, there is a camera of doubt that allows you to make a 360 degrees and very powerful zooms to be able to identify well”explains Jean-Philippe Ladet, lieutenant-colonel at SDIS 07.
Cameras on the towers but also on electric poles or at the top of a water tower, as in Dordogne. Here, the camera is not just filming. Equipped with an artificial intelligence system, it analyzes the landscape in real time. With each smoke detected, it sends a signal directly to a fire and rescue center.
It is then the human who takes over to validate the alert. “Perhaps we win four or five minutes, given the fact that we must mobilize the barracks and the road time. This period saved on the alert is precious time”details Alain Rivière, controller general director SDIS 24.
Watch the entire report in the video above