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Cowlitz County public works seeks sole-source particle-plume detection for landfill; staff warn follow-up camera and response work will follow
Summary
Public Works requested sole-source authority to pursue Pano AI particle-plume detection for the county landfill; staff estimated $40,000 per year and said the vendor provides 24/7 monitoring and routes alerts through dispatch.
Public Works staff asked the Board to authorize a sole-source procurement for a particle-plume detection system (presented as Pano/Pano AI) intended to provide earlier detection of landfill fires and to notify emergency services and nearby communities. Sean Roy, Public Works, said the system detects smoke/particle plumes at long range and complements planned on-site thermal cameras inside the landfill cell.
Roy gave a preliminary cost estimate of roughly $40,000 per year for a five-year service term (about $200,000 over five years) and said the procurement would be followed by a formal contract brought back to the Board for approval. Roy said the system detects particle plumes that accompany fires and that detection would trigger outreach to emergency services “and start getting a response going at that time.”
Savannah Clement, Public Works, explained the vendor’s demonstration included AI classification of plume size, density and type. She said the system’s dashboard and learning workflow allow county staff to mark events (for example: permit burn, campfire, or significant smoke) so the AI can reduce false positives over time. County staff said the vendor operates 24/7 monitoring on its end and that alerts would route through dispatch in the same manner as other emergency calls.
Board members raised operational concerns: several commissioners asked whether frequent, permitted burns (for example, homeowner or agricultural burns) would create many alerts and additional drive-by checks by fire districts. Staff replied they plan to keep the monitoring in-house initially, refine alert thresholds, coordinate notification preferences with local fire districts, and provide the Board with a status update after a month or two of burn-season operation. Staff also said the county is working on complementary on-site thermal cameras and response planning with local fire districts; that separate procurement will come to the Board later.
What’s next: public works staff asked for sole-source authorization to pursue a contract; the item was presented for Board consideration and staff said they would bring a contract back for formal approval if the Board directs. Commissioners requested periodic reports after deployment on alert frequency and fire-district responses.
Ending: staff emphasized the detection system is intended primarily to shorten response times for after-hours landfill fires and to reduce the risk of fires spreading from the landfill to nearby timberland.
