Maroc - TIMBERBIZ.COM.AU - A La Une - 10/12/2024 23:25

Final fire tower operational at Penola

The final fire tower on the Limestone Coast at Penola has gone fully operational in time for the 2024-25 bushfire season. Source: Timberbiz This is the final leg of a partnership between the State Government and the forest industry which has seen an investment of almost $5 million in landscape level fire detection. This will help protect the forest estate and over 21,300 direct and indirect jobs it supports, and importantly, the community and landscape in the South East. To celebrate the occasion, Minister for Forest Industries Clare Scriven travelled up the 13-storey tower to formally declare the fire tower open. The Penola tower completes the State Government’s $2.346 million election commitment, including 8 new fire detection camera systems and an upgrade of the Green Triangle’s fire tower network to provide a landscape level fire detection program. The new tower, which has been constructed using local businesses, has been delivered in collaboration with the Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub (GTFIH) and OneFortyOne Plantations, with a total cost of $1.1 million. It follows upgrade works and repairs undertaken in the lead up to the 2023-24 bushfire danger season at Comaum, Mount Burr, Mount Edward, Furner, and Mount Benson. The staffed Penola tower will complement the eight new AI-powered bushfire detection and monitoring cameras located at Comaum, Mount Benson, The Bluff, Furner, Mount Burr, Carpenter Rocks, Lucindale South, and Cave Range, installed to work in conjunction with the upgraded fire tower network. Powered by Pano AI, the monitoring system is Australia’s first fully integrated bushfire detection platform utilising ultra-HD 360-degree panoramic cameras and aimed at improving the early detection of fires. The initial cameras commenced operations in the Green Triangle during the 2023-24 fire danger season, with the system detecting 25 unplanned fires in the region, along with providing real time intelligence to aid fire suppression activities. The Limestone Coast network of eight cameras, overseen by the Green Triangle Fire Alliance (GTFA), strengthens the region’s extensive fire management and surveillance measures in place, ensuring ongoing protection of the Green Triangle’s forestry assets and communities. With the additional government investment in aerial appliances, fires can be detected earlier, with locations pinpointed more accurately, and responded to swiftly, helping reduce the risk of small fires escalating into catastrophic events. The Limestone Coast system contributes to a broader 15-camera station detection network managed by the forestry industries throughout the wider Green Triangle region into Victoria.