About ALERTCalifornia
Based at the University of California San Diego, ALERTCalifornia is a public safety program working to understand wildfires and other natural hazards and determine short and long-term impacts on people and the environment to inform management tactics.
“We used Haivision technology to monitor weather patterns and respond to flooding, debris flows, and hillside instabilities. While we are gearing up for fire season, our video wall solution has proven to be supportive in all hazard environments.”
Zachary Wells
Deputy Fire Chief, Kern County Fire Department, and Liaison/Advisor to ALERTCalifornia
The Challenge
Photo Credit: ALERTCalifornia | UC San Diego
Upgrading Emergency Communication Center Technology
As a state-focused program, ALERTCalifornia provides California public safety agencies with access to a network of cameras and sensor arrays, so agencies like the Kern County Fire Department can stay informed with real-time information that leads to life-saving action. To expand the program’s capabilities, ALERTCalifornia implemented Haivision’s Command 360 video wall software in its Kern County ECC to bring together disparate intel sources in the state into a single common operating picture. By creating more visibility, public safety agencies across the state can scale up resources more effectively to address natural disasters such as wildfires.
The Solution
Photo Credit: ALERTCalifornia | UC San Diego
Video Wall Technology Support for Natural Disasters
With the height of wildfire season around the corner, the implementation of Haivision Command 360 couldn’t have come at a better time. After just a few weeks of adapting the video wall technology to the Kern County ECC’s infrastructure, the team put it to use immediately during the 2023 atmospheric rivers and winter storm flood events.
“We used Haivision technology to monitor weather patterns and respond to flooding, debris flows, and hillside instabilities,” said Zachary Wells, Deputy Fire Chief, Kern County Fire Department, and Liaison/Advisor to ALERTCalifornia. “While we are gearing up for fire season, our video wall solution has proven to be supportive in all hazard environments.”
The Result
A System that Scales
ALERTCalifornia has grown its operation to include more than 1,000 cameras throughout the state of California. With Haivision technology in place, the camera feeds and location positioning are displayed on a high-definition video wall in the Kern County ECC, as well as the Northern and Southern California operation centers. The result? Video wall users are able to identify and confirm fire in its incipient phase so teams can ultimately scale appropriate resources and dispatch boots on the ground faster.
Supporting Proactive Action
Time is of the essence when it comes to natural disaster mitigation. With easy-to-use, scalable, and high-performance Command 360 video wall software, it’s now more possible than ever for emergency response teams to gain visualization of critical situations and allocate resources quickly.
