Jefferson County has received 20 new wildfire sensors that can detect a fire without seeing it.

The county received the sensors through a grant with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) since each cost about $2,500.

Unlike traditional wildfire sensors, which utilize a camera to detect smoke on the horizon, these sensors can detect chemical changes in the air from up to five miles away.

“We're able to get real time data and hopefully catch a fire before it becomes a wildfire,” said Nathan Whittington, JeffCo Emergency Manager. “The whole intent to this is to get a bunch of these small boxes distributed throughout the entire Jefferson County over time and create kind of a grid network, so that we're able to identify a fire when it initially starts.”

The sensors were designed by a company named N5Sensors, along with DHS.

Dimitri Kusnezov, under secretary for science and technology with DHS, says the new technology could save lives.

“You can often smell something before it becomes a fire before you can see it,” he said. “The thing about cameras is that the weather has to be good. You know, if you have clouds or fog or other kinds of things, if you're obscured by hills or ridges, you might not get it early enough, but you might smell it.”

Jefferson County hopes to finalize locations and installation this winter to begin utilizing the sensors in 2025. 

Jefferson County testing out wildfire sensors that detect chemical changes

Unlike wildfire cameras that have to see smoke to detect a fire, the new sensors can detec...

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