July 2024

Behind the Scenes with Airborne Firefighters

Take a look behind the scenes with the team at the Airborne Firefighters YouTube Channel. Whether it is a look at air attack bases, pilot training, or operations, this series offers a behind the scenes look and the men and women who man CAL FIRE’s Aviation Program a world leader in aerial firefighting. Look into the lives of aerial firefighters and what it is like to fight fire from the air.

Preserving California's Most Majestic Trees 

Have you heard about bark beetles? Well, they can cause some serious problems in our forests, and they have been found in our most majestic trees: giant sequoia. CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Research Grant Program is supporting researchers from the Ancient Forest Society to learn more about these forest pests and how we can prevent or contain them, or treat giant sequoias impacted by them. CAL FIRE offers grant funding that supports research across a wide variety of forest health, management, and firefighting frontiers.

Be Summer-Safe with These Tips from Captain Cal

Summer is well and truly here and with it comes some seriously soaring temperatures! Staying hydrated, knowing the signs of heat-related illness, being campfire and BBQ-safe, and being safe around water all add up to having a fun and healthy summer. Check out this video to see how our very own Captain Cal stays cool and check out the link below to learn how you and your family can prevent wildfires.

Building Resilient Communities with the California Wildfire Mitigation Program 

In a first-of-its-kind effort to protect California’s most vulnerable communities, homes are being retrofitted to be ‘hardened’ with ember resistant materials and defensible space to increase community resilience during a wildfire. CAL FIRE and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) joined forces to establish the California Wildfire Mitigation Program to lead this pilot initiative. 

Making Strides In Early Detection: ALERTCalifornia’s Advances in Wildfire Response

Last July, CAL FIRE and UC San Diego’s ALERTCalifornia program announced an ongoing cutting-edge partnership aimed at revolutionizing firefighting through artificial intelligence (AI). The collaboration involved a trial of the AI system executed by several CAL FIRE units, including San Bernardino and Sonoma-Lake-Napa, and utilized ALERTCalifornia's then 1,032 high-def, pan-tilt-zoom cameras. The new AI tool was rolled out to all units in late summer 2023 and now analyzes camera feeds across California for anomalies, alerting Emergency Command Centers and first responders to potential fires. ALERTCalifornia camera feeds are now integrated into the incident information pages at fire.ca.gov, providing additional situational awareness.

What is the Fire Triangle and How Understanding it Can Help us Fight Fires 

The Fire Triangle is a simple way of understanding the components of fire and how, if mishandled, can become dangerous.

Each part of the triangle is a representation of an ingredient needed for a fire to exist. Understanding how the fire triangle works and how each element can be mitigated is fundamental to the science of fire fighting. Check out the article below and learn a little bit about the fire triangle and the fundamentals of fire. 

CAL FIRE's Aviation Revolution: The Eyes in the Sky Over Wildfires 

In a state where wildfire season is year-round, every minute counts. Enter CAL FIRE's Incident Awareness and Assessment (IAA) aircraft, a high-tech marvel that's redefining firefighting from the skies. Launched last summer, the IAA is swiftly proving indispensable, providing critical real-time intelligence to firefighters and civilians alike.

Unmanned Aerial Systems Help Expand Capabilities

An important aspect on wildfires is mopping up to ensure that the fire is extinguished so that it cannot escape control lines. As this video demonstrates, CAL FIRE’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) team has been utilized cutting-edge technology to identify hot spots on the Sites Fire in Lake County. Our UAS teams help to enhance efficiency, communication, and safety on large fires as firefighting personnel are able to better survey hot spots and firefighting efforts on the ground.

On recent fires, UAS provided overhead lighting so that suppression repair crews could work at night and out of the extreme heat of the day.

Join Us, We’re Hiring Administrative Support Staff 

Become a vital member of CAL FIRE’s everyday operations! Join the team in one of a multitude of positions that are all a part of the administrative staff supporting the Department’s mission in serving and safeguarding California.