Following thunderstorms on Tuesday, ODF responded to numerous reports of smoke and fire. A few of these were found to be not fires and others were quickly stopped. All these reports, ODF responded to these fires with the help of several resources including their detection center.
Natalie Weber, Public Information Officer for ODF Southwest Oregon District states the center is a huge tool when trying to catch fires. โโA huge resource when we have lightning busts like this where we may have multiple fires across the district, um, because it allows us to have eyes on those strike areas immediately.โ
The center has thirty cameras looking at the Southwest Oregon District in Jackson and Josephine County seven days a week. By looking at all the cameras it provides an advantage to the detection center as they can find fires or smoke more quickly and notice the dispatch center.
Each person in the center has their own separate role. Whether it is looking for smoke in Jackson or Josephine County and then there are people overlooking that whole district. Those roles are overlapped when someone has to report a fire. This highlights how massive of a resource this is when it comes to lighting fires.
โโIt’s incredibly important for us to get on them as fast as we possibly can with the resources needed to put them out and put them to bedโ says Weber.
