Four remote mountain peaks in central and northeastern Nevada are home to a real-time camera fire-detection system.

A Bureau of Land Management Nevada grant awarded to the UNR to develop, install, and maintain a remote camera system, is in the initial phase of a five-year planned comprehensive network to cover vast areas of the state for early fire detection and response.

Soon after being installed, using the camera system’s near-infrared detection capability, the camera on Midas Peak spotted a large lightning-strike fire 104 miles away near Jordan Valley, Ore. Shortly thereafter, the BLM and their firefighting partners responded to another fire north of Interstate 80 between Winnemucca and Elko. The Midas Peak camera provided valuable information for BLM’s incident command center in responding to that fire as well.

The BLM has funded the mountaintop cameras to keep watch over sagebrush and forests in sensitive habitats from 10,000-foot-high Jacks Peak between Elko and Owyhee; 6,500-foot-elevation Midas Peak, about 40 miles north of Battle Mountain; 7,500-foot Callaghan Peak north of Austin near the Iowa Canyon Reservoir, and Fairview Peak south of Highway 50 and about 30 miles southeast of Fallon near Sand Mountain.

Lightning strikes from thunderstorm systems that recently drenched Northern Nevada ignited several fires in the Tahoe basin as well. The fires were identified with the camera system that rings Lake Tahoe.

“The recent thunderstorms and lightning strikes that have blanketed the area put our Tahoe system to the test, and we’ve found the equipment to work extremely well,” Graham Kent, director of the University’s Nevada Seismological Laboratory, said in a press release.

The fire-camera system is built on the backbone of the University’s Seismological Lab’s earthquake monitoring communications network, which features private high-speed internet connectivity capable of transmitting seismic, environmental and climate data, in addition to the live-streaming high-definition images.

Fire agencies can move the cameras with active pan-tilt-zoom functionality, the public can observe the real-time views as well as the time-lapse functions with a 15-minute, 30-minute and 12-hour time-lapse utility built into the webpage viewer.

The Seismological Lab uses Axis HD cameras, with 32x, pan-tilt-zoom capability, providing 360-degree panoramic views from high mountain towers. With the communications in place, these sites easily adapt to earthquake early warning detection systems that can provide public notification of expected potentially damaging ground shaking.

The expanded network also allows the university to expand the seismic detection system in Nevada, and improve earthquake monitoring in rural counties.

Live camera views, maps and information about the system are online.