AI cameras start detecting wildfires near Kananaskis

Two AI-equipped cameras are now scanning the Bow Valley for early signs of wildfire. AltaLink, the utility company managing power lines through the region, has been testing the system since last June—one camera positioned north of Kananaskis Village and another just west of Canmore.

The cameras were chosen because the Bow Valley sits among Alberta's highest wildfire risk zones along AltaLink's existing network. The utility previously relied on staff manually monitoring 17 cameras for hazards; the new AI system automatically flags possible ignitions and sends alerts for human review.

Roughly 10 per cent of Alberta's wildfires are linked to utility infrastructure, according to AltaLink. The cameras rotate 360 degrees every one to two minutes, feeding images into an AI model trained on known wildfire photos. When the system detects a possible ignition, staff at ALERTWest—the California company providing the technology—review it before alerting utilities and fire agencies.

ATCO Electric, another Alberta utility, ran a similar pilot between July 2024 and February 2026 near Whitecourt, Swan Hills, and Slave Lake. One camera detected a wildfire start last June; crews reached the scene within 30 minutes and extinguished the fire within an hour. Post-fire analysis suggested it would have spread several kilometres if it had burned another hour longer. ATCO has kept the cameras as part of its layered wildfire management approach.

The technology appeals to utilities because many power lines run through remote areas where people may not be nearby to spot and report a fire quickly. ALERTWest's cameras have detected roughly 5,600 fires across the western United States over the past two years, with some fires identified within a minute of ignition depending on smoke proximity to the camera.