By Nicole Blanchard
The Idaho Statesman
Idaho is trying out technology that promises to detect wildfires faster than traditional methods, and the company behind the tech said it’s the first state in the country to do so at this scale.
The Idaho Department of Lands, which handles fires primarily on state-managed endowment land, began a partnership in August with OroraTech, a German company that uses satellites and thermal imaging technology to identify new fires and predict possible spread. The company said it can detect fire almost in real time.
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“By partnering with the Idaho Department of Lands, we’re ensuring that firefighters across the state have access to the most advanced wildfire intelligence available,” said Thomas Gruebler, CEO of OroraTech USA, in a news release. “With the ability to detect wildfire ignitions that are the size of a small automobile, we are giving Idaho’s first responders every possible advantage in protecting lives, property and the land that defines this great state.”
The state paid $150,000 for a one-year “demo” of the OroraTech program, Department of Lands spokesperson Sharla Arledge told the Idaho Statesman.
Arledge said the department will continue to use its current fire detection method, a mountaintop camera detection system, alongside the new technology and will compare notification data from the camera system and other notification methods — like reports to dispatch — against OroraTech’s program to find the most efficient option.
Arledge noted that the department is trying to meet a fire suppression goal of keeping 95% of fires at 10 acres or smaller.
“We are striving to meet that objective, and a key component to a rapid response is notifying the appropriate resources,” she told the Statesman. “We are continuously looking for innovative ways of rapidly detecting and reporting the start of a wildfire.”
In its news release, OroraTech noted that Idaho is the first state to implement wildfire satellite detection on a statewide level. The company has also contracted with government agencies on a smaller level, according to SpaceNews.com, including Larimer County, Colorado, which is home to Fort Collins.
OroraTech said its satellite monitoring is accurate regardless of weather, cloud cover, time of day or other potential obstacles that could interfere with other methods of observing fire activity.
Satellite fire detection technology has become more common in recent years, and several companies offer monitoring solutions like OroraTech. Government agencies including NASA, also use the technology and have been developing their own satellite monitoring for wildfires.
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