KJZZ is a service of Rio Salado College,
and Maricopa Community Colleges

Copyright © 2025 KJZZ/Rio Salado College/MCCCD
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

SRP requests federal funds for more AI cameras that detect wildfires early

The Salt River Project is testing out an AI program to minimize the spread of wildfires. It detects smoke up to 10 miles away, sends an alert to first responders and directs them exactly where to find it within minutes.

The system is already active and mounted on roughly a dozen transmission towers in the Tonto and Apache-Sitgreaves national forests.

Floyd Hardin with SRP said they’re asking the Department of Energy to fund more installations.

“Another 35, potentially, cameras, detectors to go on other infrastructure because we can already see where the benefit would lie,” Hardin said.

Hardin said the system, which also works at night, has already detected the starts of multiple wildfires.

Kirsten Dorman is a field correspondent at KJZZ. Born and raised in New Jersey, Dorman fell in love with audio storytelling as a freshman at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in 2019.