San Diego County firefighters have a new weapon -- Webcams.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Tuesday that about 50 webcams are broadcasting from mountaintops, including 16 high-resolution cameras installed over the past few weeks. The images are refreshed every two minutes.
The high-def cameras were installed for the fall fire season under the FireSight program. They're funded by a $36,000 grant from the county Board of Supervisors.
The cameras aren't monitored full-time but the public can view them online and firefighters can watch them when there are high-risk fire conditions such as Santa Ana winds.
The cameras are tied into a research network at the University of California, San Diego, which has webcams at other county sites.
