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July 25, 2023, Saratoga, CA— The Santa Clara County FireSafe Council (SCCFSC), an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit, and The San Jose Water Company (SJW), Inc. announced today they have entered into a strategic partnership to provide sensor-based technology solutions to support SJW’s commitment to land stewardship and watershed health focused on reducing wildfire risk and monitoring air quality. As the first step in the partnership, SCCFSC has provided SJW with N5 Sensors’ N5Shield™, a complete solution that leverages multi-modal sensors and artificial intelligence to provide fast and accurate real time alerts when fire is detected nearby, making communities safer and healthier. Leveraging a network of advanced, cloud-connected sensors (ChemNode), the N5 ecosystem provides an interactive dashboard for visualizing sensor data and fire alerts. This real time data enables first responders to identify wildfire faster and to analyze local conditions for safe and effective management of fire-fighting resources.
“Early detection of wildfire on SJW watershed lands is critical to ensuring clean and reliable water supply for Santa Clara County residents “stated Jared Lewis, Manager, Environmental Planning and Natural Resources, San Jose Water Company. “The sensor network is an important component of our overall wildfire mitigation strategy that significantly increases our ability to quickly detect and respond to wildfire. Through our partnership with the Santa Clara County Firesafe Council, we are excited to spearhead the first phase of this network covering ~6,000 acres of watershed land with N5Shield™. Over time, through collaboration with future partners, we anticipate covering over 100,000 acres with a network of sensor solutions.”
According to Seth Schalet, CEO of Santa Clara County FireSafe Council, “The earlier a wildfire is detected, the sooner you can act, including alerting customers and the fire service agencies. Sensors and other types of early detection technology, such as wildfire cameras, can be extremely useful for catching fires that occur in remote areas, where they can often go unnoticed until they become much bigger.”
For San Jose Water, the Santa Clara County FireSafe Council helped them evaluate different sensor systems, and will lead the implementation and operational deployment of the N5SHIELD™ network throughout San Jose Water’s infrastructure.
Debra Deininger, Chief Revenue Officer for N5 Sensors stated “N5 has been rapidly deploying N5SHIELD™ throughout North America, and we are thrilled to partner with the Santa Clara County Fire Safe Council to bring this product to San Jose Water, and protect their infrastructure and community.
About San Jose Water:
Founded in 1866, San Jose Water is an investor-owned public utility, and is one of the largest and most technically sophisticated urban water systems in the United States. Serving over one million people in the greater San Jose metropolitan area, San Jose Water also provides services to other utilities including operations and maintenance, billing, and backflow testing. San Jose Water is owned by SJW Group, a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SJW. SJW Group also owns: Connecticut Water Company in Connecticut; Maine Water Company in Maine; and SJWTX, Inc. (dba Canyon Lake Water Service Company) in Texas. To learn more about San Jose Water, visit www.sjwater.com.
About Santa Clara County FireSafe Council:
As a 501 (c)3 nonprofit with a 20-year history, Santa Clara County FireSafe Council’s core mission is to mobilize the people of Santa Clara County to protect their homes, communities, and environment from wildfires. As a trusted partner across the government, fire service, corporate and WUI residential communities, SCCFSC has led some of the most complex hazardous fuel reduction projects in the region. With a board of directors and advisory board that has a deep expertise across the wildfire ecosystem including wildfire and environmental research, academia, emergency management, regional planning, technology products and wildland firefighting executive leadership, Santa Clara County FireSafe Council is uniquely positioned to lead cross-sector collaborations, government-private partnership in Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County and beyond. For more information, visit www.sccfiresafe.org.
About N5 Sensors, Inc.:
N5 believes that in a world with rapidly changing environmental threats, everyone has access to the right information at the right time to stay safe. N5 has been developing and providing innovative and reliable environmental sensing systems for over 12 years to customers in diverse markets including Defense, Homeland Security and commercial systems. The N5SHIELD™ was designed to meet the needs of communities and fire fighters to protect against devastating wildfires in the Wildland Urban interface and has been deployed in 8 states across the US and in Canada. For more information, please visit www.n5sensors.com.
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Santa Clara County FireSafe Council
14380 Saratoga Ave
Saratoga, CA 95070
Phone: (408) 975-9591
Website: www.sccfiresafe.org
Media Contact: Seth Schalet
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