SAN DIEGO (AP) — As the threat of wildfires has grown to a staggering level in California, so has its network of high-tech cameras watching the backcountry to spot the first outbreak of flames and help firefighters battle them until they are contained.

The 610th ALERTWildfire camera was installed in California last month.

The program office at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, says the size of the multi-state system almost doubled in the past four months, primarily in California.

There are also 41 cameras in Nevada, nine in Oregon, six in Idaho and one in Washington.