OroraTech supports new wildfire control centres in Patagonia region
Iain Hoey
Share this content
OroraTech satellite services launched in Rio Negro
Satellite-powered wildfire detection and monitoring services have launched across Argentina’s Rio Negro province, with coverage stated as 20 million hectares in the Patagonia region.
OroraTech announced the deployment alongside GPTech and the Rio Negro provincial government.
The partnership includes two newly constructed wildfire control centres in Bariloche and El Bolsón, built and operated by GPTech.
OroraTech’s Wildfire Solution is set out as the digital core of the centres, providing thermal intelligence and near real time alerts for decision-makers, local firefighters – brigadistas – and emergency planners.
Control centres combine satellite data with ground inputs
The control centres are intended to coordinate response and prevention efforts by combining OroraTech’s proprietary satellite data with ground-based inputs, drone footage and communications infrastructure powered by Starlink.
Axel Roenneke, Chief Commercial Officer at OroraTech, said: “This marks a new chapter for wildfire response in Argentina.
“We are proud to provide the space-based intelligence that will help protect lives, ecosystems, and the economy of the Rio Negro province.
“This partnership showcases how local innovation and global technology can come together to build resilience.”
Gabriel Porta, founder and CEO of GPTech, commented: “We are building multi-orbit connected control centers to connect brigadists on the ground with critical information and communications tools.
“OroraTech’s data is at the core of this system, enabling us to act faster and smarter against wildfires.”
Provincial officials, including the Governor and Minister of Environment, inaugurated the control centres on 14 February.
Rio Negro provincial government endorsement was described as part of a wider strategy to modernise environmental protection and emergency response.