By David Kligman
PG&E-funded wildfire cameras have only been operating in Butte County since June and already they have provided value that simply can’t be measured.
In this case, the technology may have saved lives. Two of them, to be specific.
The amazing story began two weeks ago when a pregnant Amber Pangborn reportedly went into labor while driving on the outskirts of Oroville, took a shortcut and got lost. Eventually her car ran out of gas and she was stranded on the side of a road in the Plumas National Forest. There was no cell phone service.
A camera like this one alerted authorities to a fire that led to the rescue of an Oroville woman stranded in Plumas National Forest. (Photo by James Green.)
She told a Chico TV station that she laid out a sleeping bag in the back seat of her car and gave birth to her daughter she named Marisa. She survived for three days on bottled water and apples and fended off bees and mosquitoes.
Desperate, she started a brush fire with a lighter and an aerosol can of hair spray. The fire was detected by the PG&E-funded wildfire detection camera systems, which actually uses integrated GIS-Data to pinpoint fire start locations.
The images were sent to a dispatch center, which alerted Butte County fire officials who worked with their counterparts in the Plumas National Forest to send a helicopter. The woman and her newborn daughter were rescued and taken to an Oroville hospital.
The $2 million system, which PG&E funded to detect wildfires in key, remote locations in Northern and Central California, worked exactly as it was intended, said Mike Weber, battalion chief for Butte County Fire Department in Oroville.
Amber Pangborn and her newborn were rescued thanks to new cameras set up to alert authorities to wildfires. (Photo courtesy of KRCR-TV.)
Interestingly, this also was the first time the cameras detected a fire in Butte County since they were installed on lookout or communications towers in the eastern foothills there.
“The fire could have gone undetected for some time if it wasn’t for those cameras,” said Weber, who added that in the past his agency would have had to rely on recreationalists to report fires.
As for the reason for the fire, Weber said: “It was definitely a unique twist. Those things don’t happen every day. We’ll find more fires from the cameras this year and we won’t run into the situation. It was nice that we could help out.”
PG&E’s Lisa Randle, who worked with fire officials on the wildfire cameras, said the project was a natural collaboration since both agencies are first responders. The cameras also are part of PG&E’s drought emergency response plan.
“It’s of such value,” Randle said. “The technology takes us into a new area for fire detection as opposed to the old ways like aerial patrols. These cameras are so much better at what they can see, what they can do and what they can locate. I’m proud our company was able to do this.”
Email David Kligman at David.Kligman@pge.com.