1. A system for detecting smoke in a monitored area, said system comprising: a means for capturing a series of successive video images of said monitored area in the form of a series of two-dimensional bitmaps having a specified number of pixels, a means for examining said series of bitmaps to identify areas in successive bitmaps of adjacent pixels that have the potential for being used as indicators for the existence of smoke in said monitored area, a means for chronologically associating said identified areas so as to form clusters that track the direction of at least one of growth and movement of each of said identified areas over the duration of their existences, and a means for analyzing the direction of at least one of growth and movement of said clusters of identified areas to identify an increase in the size of said identified areas occurs to a greater extent in a top rather than a bottom part of said identified areas which is indicative of the presence of a growing smoke cloud in said monitored area.