November 17, 2020 – In a Zoom presentation to the Sierra City Fire District governing board, Neal Driscoll, from UC San Diego and Co-Lead of ALERTWildfire, (http://www.alertwildfire.org/) the 630+ fire camera alert system throughout California, announced cameras would soon be placed on the Sierra Buttes Lookout, possibly before the end of 2020.
Driscoll reported that ALERTWildfire, CALFire, PG&E, Digital Path and certainly the Tahoe National Forest are nearing completion of the necessary paperwork. He emphatically pointed out that the cooperation of these entities and many other public safety and private stakeholders, help save lives and protect property by identifying and confirming wildfires at their inception. Graham Kent, the other Co-Lead and ALERTWildfire founder from UNR said of the Buttes location: “Best lookout in terms of visibility I’ve ever been to”.
Roy Cooper, Chair of the Fire District stated: “There is a major hole in the ALERTWildfire coverage in Northern California and the Sierra Buttes Lookout will fix that. We are pleased to have brought the Buttes to ALERT’s attention. The potential safety benefit to locals and our visitors cannot be measured”. Going forward, Cooper says the District intends to work with ALERTWildfire, Sheriff Fisher and the community on wildfire planning and evacuation training.
ALERTWildfire funds, installs and maintains the cameras.