Wildfire Detection Announced for Patagonia Region of Argentina
OroraTech Partnering with Argentine technology firm GPTech
Satellite-powered wildfire detection and monitoring services have been launched across Argentina’s Rio Negro province under an agreement reached by the provincial government, OroraTech and GPTech. The service will protect 20 million hectares (almost 50 million acres) in the Patagonia region - an area roughly half the size of Spain.
“This marks a new chapter for wildfire response in Argentina.”
Axel Roenneke, OroraTech
The deployment comes through a partnership with OroraTech’s local partner, Argentine technology firm GPTech, and the provincial government of Río Negro. At the heart of the initiative are two newly constructed wildfire control centers deep in Bariloche and El Bolsón, built and operated by GPTech. OroraTech’s Wildfire Solution serves as the digital core of the center, providing thermal intelligence and near-real-time alerts to support decision-makers, local firefighters (brigadistas), and emergency planners in a region increasingly impacted by climate-driven wildfire events.
“This marks a new chapter for wildfire response in Argentina,” said Axel Roenneke, Chief Commercial Officer at OroraTech. “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.”
“We are building multi-orbit connected control centers to connect brigadists on the ground with critical information and communications tools,” said Gabriel Porta, founder and CEO of GPTech. “OroraTech’s data is at the core of this system, enabling us to act faster and smarter against wildfires.”
Patagonia has faced escalating wildfire risks in recent years, with the current season already seeing 50,000-hectare (more than 123,000 acre) burned areas in recent months. The new control center aims 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.
The government of Rio Negro has endorsed the project as part of a broader regional strategy to modernize environmental protection and emergency response. Provincial officials, including the Governor and Minister of Environment, inaugurated the new control centers on February 14th.