Pacific Gas and Electric Company deploys Satellite Fire Detection and Alerting System

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) recently deployed its Satellite Fire Detection and Alerting System, which will use data from two new Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites and three polar-orbiting satellites to provide PG&E with advanced warning of potential new fire incidents.

The satellites are operated by the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service division.

“This capability offers first-of-its-kind situational awareness by providing a live feed from the satellites to our Wildfire Safety Operations Center,” Sumeet Singh, vice president of PG&E’s Community Wildfire Safety Program, said. “Emerging technologies such as this are another way we are working to reduce wildfire risk and protect our customers and our communities.”

The PG&E Meteorology Team led the development of the program in collaboration with experts from the University of Wisconsin–Madison Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC). The system became fully operational in late June.

PG&E and SSEC developed a dedicated and proprietary data pipeline that provides fire detection data as fast as every minute.

Using an internal web application, staff at PG&E’s Wildfire Safety Operations Center can track fire progression and the intensity of fires in near real-time. The system also generates new fire alerts via email and an app.

“Once the fire detection and monitoring algorithm detects the heat signature of a possible fire, an alert is generated and made available to analysts in the Wildfire Safety Operations Center,” Scott Strenfel, the principal meteorologist for PG&E’s Community Wildfire Safety Program, said. “They then leverage other data, such as the new wildfire alert cameras or information from external agencies, to confirm if there is fire in the area and its proximity to any infrastructure. The application we’ve developed displays detections on an interactive map, which also allows users to track the general spread and intensity of fires in near real-time as the data are refreshed as quick as every minute.”

The Satellite Fire Detection and Alerting System is part of the PG&E’s Community Wildfire Safety Program (CWSP).