A German company with its headquarters in Colorado is working to make space-based wildfire detection an effective tool for firefighters in the mountain West.

Ororatech, founded in Germany in 2018 by engineer and volunteer firefighter Thomas Gruebler, provides satellite imagery to fire departments during active fire periods in the afternoons. It also combines the data with that from existing sensors to build simulations of fire behavior.

The company is working with the Aspen Fire Protection District to monitor Lincoln Creek Valley. The valley, though remote, is popular for summer recreation. But its rugged landscape and dense canopy make detecting wildfires with traditional monitoring tools difficult.

The Aspen Fire Protection District has a network of cameras, but they don’t cover everything. Adding Earth observation services from Ororatech helps its firefighters more quickly identify and respond to fires, better protecting Aspen residents and visitors, said Fire Chief Jake Anderson.

In Colorado, Ororatech is working alongside Aspen’s existing Pano AI cameras, a network of cameras watching for smoke plumes or flame near the famed ski villages. Each camera gives first responders a 360-degree live view of several points near Aspen, Snowmass Village, Basalt and Carbondale.

Two cameras are positioned to the north and south of Aspen, giving a commanding view of the area. Other cameras are located just above Snowmass Village, two are along Colorado 82 and 133, while the final camera overlooks Basalt and El Jebel, also off Colorado 82.

But cameras are not foolproof and can be blinded by smoke as fires grow. Satellite-based monitoring means firefighters can see fires even if the cameras cannot, Anderson said.

“Early detection is one of the most effective tools we have to reduce wildfire risk,” he said. “This strengthens our ability to protect residents, visitors, critical infrastructure and our surrounding public lands by enabling faster, more effective response.”

It also gives them a much broader view, allowing Aspen Fire Protection District firefighters to watch the surrounding public lands. Some of those lands aren’t in their jurisdiction, but monitoring them gives them “broader situational awareness,” a news release said.

“Wildfire doesn’t recognize jurisdictional boundaries,” George Newell, a retired paramedic firefighter, said in the news release. “Preventing catastrophic wildfire takes collaboration, innovation and a willingness to invest in the future.”

Existing satellite constellations from the likes of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Japanese Space Agency only provide morning updates, Gruebler said. Due to the gap in coverage, Ororatech focuses on watching fires in the afternoon, able to provide updates as quickly as every hour, Gruebler said.

“In the long run, we want to detect everything within 15 minutes,” he said. “But at the moment, we just started filling up the afternoon because it’s the most interesting time of the day to observe fires.”

Fires are typically more active in the afternoon when high temperatures, low humidity and afternoon storms combine. Firefighters attacking the Aspen Acres fire, the states largest blaze thus far in the 2026 fire season, frequently dealt with afternoon storms causing high winds and encouraging the fire’s spread.

Some storms were so bad the air attack aircraft, used to survey the fire from high altitude and give firefighters a better picture of its perimeter, were grounded. Satellites orbit the Earth, far above the weather responsible for grounding aircraft. Ororatech operates 19 satellites in its constellation.

All together, the company combines data from 40 satellites and shares it as a single data stream to customers.

Ororatech also uses this data to build fire simulations, conduct risk assessments and provide post-fire analysis. The simulations can help fire departments determine where a fire will go and how best to get after it, Gruebler said.

The company’s satellite network is fire-tested. In California, it detected the first ignition of the Rock fire on July 20. No ground cameras saw the fire start, according to Ororatech. For the first two hours of the blaze, only Ororatech’s constellation provided firefighters with a fire perimeter, “delivering key information for strategy and resource prioritization,” according to a social media post from the company.

The fire burned just over 12,000 acres and is now fully contained, according to CalFire.

Earth observation is a growing business sector and is likely to continue expanding, according to the Colorado Springs-based Space Foundation. In its latest analysis of the global space economy, the group found Earth observation, which includes direct imaging and “downstream products” such as analysis and decision-support services, generated $4.3 billion in commercial revenue.

“This evolution has allowed Earth observation companies to serve customers with limited remote sensing expertise while creating higher-value commercial products tailored to specific industries,” the report said. “The continued deployment of large Earth observation constellations is expected to further transform the market.”