They didn't know the fire existed until someone called
From a school project born out of personal loss, a young Argentine entrepreneur has built a system that outpaces NASA's wildfire detection by thirty-five minutes — not through superior resources, but through the disciplined combination of satellite data, artificial intelligence, and the humble simplicity of a WhatsApp message. Satellites On Fire reminds us that the most consequential innovations often begin not in laboratories, but in the grief of watching something burn that didn't have to. Now operating across twenty-one countries, the platform stands as a quiet argument that speed, in the face of nature's indifference, is a form of justice.
- Every minute between ignition and detection is territory surrendered to fire — and in remote regions, that gap was being filled by nothing more than a neighbor's phone call.
- Firefighters in Mexico State were dying in seasons where the fire always had a head start; the system's early alerts helped bring fatalities to zero.
- By fusing data from over ten satellites, weather feeds, terrain maps, and tower cameras into a single AI model refreshed every ten minutes, the platform moves faster than the international agencies it now outperforms.
- Alerts delivered via WhatsApp — requiring no new app, no training, no delay — mean that the technology meets responders exactly where they already are.
- With $2.7 million in funding, partnerships with global insurer Aon, and clients from Ghana to the Philippines, the startup is scaling its logic of early detection toward droughts, flooding, and illegal deforestation.
Franco Rodríguez Viau was twenty-two when his startup, Satellites On Fire, began detecting wildfires thirty-five minutes before NASA's systems could register them. The company — co-founded with two childhood friends from ORT school — grew from a 2020 high school project into an operation now active across twenty-one countries and backed by $2.7 million in recent funding.
The motivation was personal. People close to the founders had lost homes to wildfires, and months of conversations with firefighters revealed a troubling pattern: in remote areas, the first alert often came from a neighbor's call — by which time the fire had already escaped control. That gap between ignition and detection became the problem they set out to close.
The platform draws from more than ten satellites, refreshed every ten minutes, and layers in weather data, terrain maps, and feeds from detection tower cameras. When a heat signature appears, an alert goes directly to firefighters via WhatsApp — no new software, no delay. In Mexico State, this approach helped reduce firefighter fatalities to zero during periods when previous seasons had recorded deaths.
The company now employs twenty-four people, many recruited from NASA, the European Space Agency, and Oxford. A free version at satellitesonfire.com lets anyone monitor heat signatures across the Americas, while institutional clients — forestry firms, insurers, government agencies — access a paid alert tier. In Argentina alone, the platform has drawn more than 55,000 users, including major timber companies and provincial governments.
Rodríguez Viau left university after one year to work on the startup full-time. He has been living off it for three years. The company has signed agreements with global insurer Aon and is pushing into the United States market, while also fielding requests to apply its early-detection logic to droughts, flooding, and illegal deforestation — problems that share the same essential need: faster information in places where information has always arrived too late.
Franco Rodríguez Viau was twenty-two years old when his startup, Satellites On Fire, began detecting forest fires thirty-five minutes before NASA's systems could register them. The company he built with two childhood friends—all three alumni of ORT school—has grown from a high school project in 2020 into an operation spanning twenty-one countries across four continents, backed by $2.7 million in recent funding.
The idea emerged from something personal. Friends and family members had lost homes to wildfires, and Rodríguez Viau wanted to understand why response times were so slow. He and his cofounders spent months talking to firefighters and brigade members, learning how emergencies unfolded in remote areas where the first alert often came from a neighbor's phone call—by which time the fire had already spread beyond control. That gap between ignition and detection was the problem they decided to solve.
The platform works by pulling data from more than ten satellites, refreshed every ten minutes, and feeding that information through proprietary artificial intelligence models. The system layers in weather data, terrain maps, and feeds from cameras mounted on detection towers. When a heat signature appears, the system sends an alert directly to firefighters via WhatsApp—no new app to download, no delay in opening software. The speed matters. In Mexico State, the system helped reduce firefighter fatalities to zero during months when previous seasons had recorded deaths. Rodríguez Viau attributed this directly to the volume and precision of real-time data: firefighters could move before the fire moved, and they could move with better information about wind, fuel, and topography.
The company now has twenty-four employees, many recruited from NASA, the European Space Agency, and Oxford. It operates a free web version at satellitesonfire.com where anyone can watch heat signatures across the Americas, and a paid tier for institutional clients—forestry companies, agricultural firms, insurance companies, and government agencies like Argentina's Civil Defense. In Argentina alone, the system has attracted more than 55,000 users. Major timber companies like Forestal Argentina and Pomera Maderas use it. So do national parks and the province of La Pampa.
The business model runs on monthly or annual subscriptions, with pricing tied to hectares monitored and cameras connected. Rodríguez Viau explained that basic visualization is free—a way to raise awareness about fire risk—while the active alert system is paid. The company has already signed agreements with global insurers like Aon, the risk mitigation leader, to integrate their technology with existing client infrastructure. They work with whatever equipment a client already owns: drones, cameras, or satellite data alone.
International expansion is underway. Satellites On Fire now serves customers in Ghana and the Philippines, and is pushing toward the United States market. The technology has also fielded requests to monitor droughts, flooding, and illegal deforestation—problems that share the same underlying need: early detection in places where information moves slowly.
Rodríguez Viau left university after one year of studying artificial intelligence to work full-time on the startup. He has been living off it for three years. His mother, he said, had already suspected he would not finish his degree; friends saw it as natural as the company grew. He credits mentors like Rubén Altman, founder of the ClimaTech Argentina community, with guiding the founders through investment rounds. The team continues to hire across sales, operations, and engineering. The stated goal is to consolidate presence across Latin America and scale into international markets, always with the same focus: protecting forests and saving lives through software-based detection, prevention, monitoring, and response.
Notable Quotes
We spent months talking to firefighters and brigade members to understand what prevented them from stopping fires in time— Franco Rodríguez Viau, cofounder of Satellites On Fire
Firefighters can act before the fire spreads because they now have real-time data. In remote zones, no one used to alert them in time and the fire advanced without control— Franco Rodríguez Viau
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
How did a high school project become a company that outpaces NASA?
It started with a real problem we could see. People we knew lost homes to fires. We asked firefighters why they couldn't respond faster, and the answer was always the same: they didn't know the fire existed until someone called. In remote areas, that call comes too late.
So you built a system to see fires before humans could report them.
Exactly. We pull data from over ten satellites every ten minutes, run it through AI models we developed, and send alerts via WhatsApp. No new app, no delay. Just information that lets firefighters move before the fire spreads.
The thirty-five-minute advantage over NASA—where does that come from?
It's the combination. NASA has good data, but we've optimized for speed and local context. We layer in weather, fuel moisture, terrain. We know what matters in each region. And we've built the system to be fast, not comprehensive.
In Mexico State, you reduced firefighter deaths to zero. That's not a small claim.
It happened because firefighters had real-time data before they moved. They knew wind direction, fuel conditions, topography. They could plan better and move faster. That's what early detection actually does—it gives you time to be smart.
You're twenty-five now, running a company with twenty-four people across four continents. Did you expect this?
No. I left university because the work was teaching me more than classes could. My mother wasn't surprised. Neither were my friends. When something is working, you keep going.
What comes next?
We're moving into the United States, deepening Latin America, and exploring applications beyond fires—droughts, flooding, illegal deforestation. The core is the same: early detection saves lives and resources.