It was December 4, 2017. The Thomas Wildfire started just outside of Santa Paula. Before it was contained, it burned more than 280,000 acres of land, destroyed more than a thousand homes and other buildings, and was directly responsible for two deaths.
A little more than month later, 22 more people died, and hundreds of homes were destroyed or damaged by the Montecito debris flow, which was the result of fire damage to the mountains combining with a major storm.
Investigators determined that Southern California Edison equipment impacted by Santa Ana winds led to the inferno.
Now, some Central Coast researchers say the power grids which have been factors in starting some major wildfires in California might be used to provide early detection of future blazes.
They’ve developed software which can be added to power line monitoring devices, to allow them to also detect wildfires.
"It adds a kind of smartnesss...it can detect the heat from the ambient sun or weather, from the heat which comes from a wildfire,' said Majid Posahtan, who is an electrical engineering professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
The professor said some power systems are adding high tech devices intended to safely maximize the use of the existing power grid, so new lines don’t have to be added. They monitor the temperature of the lines, and use wireless technology to send the information back to system operators.
Use of the devices is now mandatory in parts of Europe, and they are now being added to some power grids in America, mostly so far on the East Coast.
So, learning about these devices led to Poshtan to team up with a friend, and fellow Cal Poly professor Joseph Callenes-Sloan. Poshtan is an expert on power, and energy technology, and Callenes-Sloan specializes in computer engineering.
He said they wrote their own program which can be added to the existing software of the device.
"It's using our own software that can be added to the existing sensor that is already on the transmission line, so we are not adding any cost," said Poshtan.
They’ve patented the new software they’ve developed.
The researcher says the software can detect a nearby wildfire in about twenty seconds, and transmit the date to system operators. It can even provide information on the fire's direction.
Poshtan says they’ve received a lot of interest in the software from companies which make the transmission line monitoring systems, as well as from utility companies. The monitors currently aren’t in widespread use in California, but he thinks they will be soon. They’re pricey, from $100,000 to $150,000 each, but are expected to come down in price as more utility companies adopt them.
He thinks the technology could be in widespread use in the state in about five years.
