Shellbrook Chronicle Th The voice i off th the P Parkland kl d ffor over 100 years VOL. 102 NO. 32| PMR #40007604
Shellbrook, Saskatchewan Friday, August 9, 2013
www.shellbrookchronicle.com
Fire tower automation sparking a heated debate Wildfire suppression in the province is currently undergoing a drastic overhaul that will see cameras replacing human observers in fire detection towers. The decision has created a lot of controversy, with many issues being raised regarding jobs, safety, and cost. To make the switch happen, rooms atop the tall towers will be removed, while the towers themselves will remain standing. Once these rooms, which are called cupolas, are taken off, then the cameras will go up in their place. The cameras will then be lined up, calibrated, and made so that their various images can be seen from a central location. The towers are being replaced one by one, and the provincial government hopes to have all 42 towers replaced by next spring. The uncertainty and irrevocability of the switch has some people concerned, especially since the system is new to the area. Many are wondering why the cameras could not be set up in manned towers so that potential kinks could be worked out with a human eye still present, but Steve Roberts, Executive Director of the provincial government’s Wildfire Management Program, says that the wholesale switch was necessary. “Our current system, for what we were approved to do, didn’t include a duplication of the two systems, or a direct comparison. It was a replacement,” Roberts said. “A lot of that is based on the fact that this system is used operationally elsewhere, and we’ve used some of their data.” Detractors of the switch, such as Saskatoon MLA Cathy Sproule of the NDP, are choosing to cite a study done in Australia in 2010 that involved the testing of three types of fire detection cameras, and ultimately concluded that the system was inferior to human observers. “Australia tried these automated cameras and found the results to be disastrous,” Sproule was quoted as saying in an April 19 press release. “After a horrendous bush-fire season in 2009, the Australian government commissioned a study of the cameras using real field tests of their accuracy and ability compared to real staff. In the study, the Australians concluded--quote, ‘detection by the camera systems was slower and less reliable than by a trained human observer.’” The same study goes on to state that, “At present it is not possible to rely on cameras as a sole primary detection method and they are not a suitable replacement for trained fire observers.” Roberts, however, claims that other areas concerned with wildfires have been using an automated system, and they have provided him with enough positive data to suggest that the system works. “The state of Oregon uses this technology, they’ve been replacing their manned towers with this technology. It’s part of their current operations, that’s how they do their business now. I’ve talked directly to my counterpart who runs their wildfire program, and they are quite happy with the product, and also the benefits that it provides them into the future.” Another issue that apparently led to the switch was the safety of the men and women who climb these tall towers in the midst of the Saskatchewan wilderness. “We have questions and concerns in general about managing employee safety. It is a risky part of our business for someone to work alone and work at heights,” Roberts said.
Many who worked in the towers, however, felt that the occupation was indeed safe. One such individual, a man named David Badger who worked in various towers from 1982-1989, claims that he never felt he was in danger. “When there was an observer up there, everything was done carefully,” he said. “The safety equipment was there, and the safety equipment was reliable.” He went on to comment that in all his time with the program, there was never a major accident in the towers, and that he was very fond of his old job. “I enjoyed every minute of it,” he said. Another representative of the fire workers union, who chose to remain nameless, also felt that the safety regulations were properly in place with the old system, and described the procedure used to climb the towers: “They radio the base and tell them that they’re going up the tower,” he said. “They then have a safety line that they attach when they are climbing up the tower, in an enclosed ladder. They couldn’t fall more than five feet if they tried. When they get to the top of the tower, they radio the base and tell them that they’re up there.” If the base didn’t hear back from the observer in an allotted period of time, they would send help. “I would say that the government is really jumping the gun with what they’re doing, because they’re trying to put in unproven and untested technology,” the representative added. Roberts claims that one of the main advantages to the new system is that it will be more cost effective, but that the funds saved will come in the form of lost wages for employees. “We will have a $1.5 million capital investment at the start,” he said. “Maintenance occurs in both scenarios, but instead of having a whole bunch of staff who work individually in each tower, we will now have a smaller core of central staff who will work in the central facility and look at all of those towers, and the images that have come from the cameras for each of those towers.” He also went on to comment that a few different options will be available for tower staff who are being replaced. “Twenty seasonal staff will be impacted directly because of the changeover. Some of those staff will be looked at for recruiting into the central dispatching centre. Some of our folks will have options for staying within the fire program doing other jobs for us, or some of them will be taking retirement options that are available to them as well.” David Badger can see why some staff are upset with the decision. “When people start getting shifted around like this, after so many years of doing the same job and enjoying what they do, people are frustrated,” he said. The safety of the people who live in high-risk areas, as well as the safety of the men and women who battle the fires, is another key issue in the debate. “We need to keep families and communities in forest fringe areas safe. And, we need to ensure that the lives of fire crew members are not in jeopardy,” commented Bob Bymoen, President of Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union. “Fire tower observers are an essential link between frontline fire fighters and base headquarters. Video cameras can’t perform that crucial three-way communications role.” Continued on Page 3
A fire detection tower located outside of Canwood that will soon be converted from a manned station to an automated one with the installation of a camera.
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