Sensaro / About
About Sensaro
The tools that collect the data, and the models that read it
Sensaro builds the reporting apps that crews, foresters and landowners use in the field, and the wildfire spread, ignition-risk and beetle models that turn those reports into maps. It is made for the people who have to decide where fire is likely to go and what to treat before it starts — agencies, utilities, contractors and researchers.
Two questions kept coming up on the ground and neither had a good answer: where is this fire actually going to go, and what could have been done about it before it started. The models that answer them well need data at a resolution nobody was collecting.
So the collection tools were built first and the models second. A concern report takes about thirty seconds to file — a category, a photo, a set of coordinates — and it lands in the same GIS layer the risk models read from. Building it the other way around produces a model that runs on national averages and tells a district forester what they already knew.
Today there are six tools live in the browser: the wildfire spread and risk model, the live fire and forestry map, the concern reporting form, the crew and job manager, the forestry dashboard, and the prediction API. Nothing needs an install. The site and the API are under active construction, and the dev log is where that gets said out loud rather than quietly patched.
What we work on
These are not separate products. Each one writes to the same records, so a beetle report filed on a ridge in the morning shows up in the risk model that afternoon — and in the dashboard a district uses to decide where crews go next week.
Wildfire spread and risk modeling
A job takes coordinates and pulls live weather, fuel and topography from there; overrides for wind, humidity, fuel loading and analysis radius are optional. Spread is simulated with FARSITE/FlamMap-class algorithms, producing an ignition-risk score, rate-of-spread surfaces, flame-length rasters and a 3D view — delivered as PNG, video, KML, GeoTIFF and Shapefile. Typical run time is two to eight minutes depending on radius.
Field data collection
Crews and homeowners file a concern against one of eleven categories — mountain pine beetle, mistletoe, canker, borers, fungus, improper pruning, stand suffocation, WUI encroachment, fuel build-up, active fire — with GPS coordinates and a photo, from a phone in the field. Submissions are reviewed within 48 hours, plot to the public map, and feed the risk layer foresters use to prioritise inspections.
Forest health monitoring
The mountain pine beetle model takes stand conditions — species, density, DBH, elevation, stand age, current infestation, drought index, winter minimum temperature, distance to the nearest known outbreak — and returns a five-year spread risk with low/mid/high acreage bands, built on USFS outbreak data and stand vulnerability indices. The public map is the other half: it shows what has actually been reported, so a landowner can see what is moving toward them without waiting for an annual survey.
Crew management and the API
The job board handles gigs, shift signups, certification review and proof of work for outfits running seasonal crews. The API puts the same inputs and map layers behind an endpoint for GIS workflows and automation, on a serverless back end. CONFIRM: the API is still under construction — decide how much of it to claim here.
A fire model is only as good as the last person who walked the ground it covers. That is why the reporting app came first.
CONFIRM: attribution — your name and role, or swap in a real customer quote
How we work
Small shop, large problem. The rule is that anything shipped has to survive contact with a phone, a truck and bad signal — and that the model says plainly what it does not know.
Built with the people using it
The concern categories are the ones crews actually name — pitch tubes and blue stain, not "biotic disturbance". The report form asks for the minimum that makes a record usable for GIS and nothing else, because a form that takes five minutes gets filed from the truck at the end of the day, if at all.
Collection before prediction
Every tool either produces a record or reads one. If a feature does not improve the data going in or the decision coming out, it does not get built. That is the reason the free public reporting form exists at all — it is the input side of the model, not a marketing page.
Your data leaves in open formats
Model output comes back as GeoTIFF, KML and Shapefile, so it drops straight into an existing GIS rather than living inside a dashboard you have to keep paying for. Model notes ship with the results, and the guidance is always the same: scores above 70 mean conditions favour rapid spread, and official Red Flag warnings and local fire agency direction take precedence over anything we output.
By the numbers
What is running now
Counts describe what is deployed, not usage. Job time varies with analysis radius; reported concerns are reviewed within 48 hours before they reach the public map.
How it got here
Collection first, models second
The question
Where a fire will run, and what could be treated first, kept coming up on jobs where the only available answer was a state-wide bulletin.
The reporting form
A photo, a category and a set of coordinates from a phone. The first piece built, because without records at that resolution there is nothing worth modeling.
The models and the map
Spread and ignition risk, the mountain pine beetle model, and a public map putting active fires and community reports on one surface.
Dashboard, crews and an API
Fire and forest health layers for a property or a district in one view, a job board for seasonal crews, and the prediction model behind an endpoint. The API and parts of the site are still under construction; the dev log tracks what shipped and what broke.
Who we work with
Built with the people using it
Four groups, one set of records — the difference is which end of the loop you work at.
Agencies and municipalities
Mitigation planning, response support and land management, with a record of what was treated and when. A district can run risk across its whole area, then drill to the stand a homeowner reported last week.
Utilities and industry
Corridor and asset risk assessment along rights-of-way, plus the documentation compliance reviews ask for — modeled outputs and dated field records from the same system.
Contractors and crews
Scheduling, certification tracking, field capture and proof of work that holds up when a client asks what got done. Approved crew members get first access to posted jobs.
Researchers
Direct access to the models and the underlying submissions through the API, without going through the interface — survey inputs by region, and raster tiles for the wildfire and forest health layers.
Questions
Common questions
The things people ask before the first call. If yours is not here, send it — the answer usually ends up on this page.
What does Sensaro actually do?
Two things that depend on each other. We build the field apps people use to report what they see on the ground — pests, disease, dead trees, fuel build-up near structures — and the models that read those reports alongside live weather, fuel and topography data to produce wildfire spread, ignition risk and beetle outbreak forecasts. Everything writes to the same records, so a report filed on a ridge in the morning is in the risk model that afternoon.
What does the wildfire model output?
A job returns an ignition-risk score, rate-of-spread surfaces, flame-length rasters, ignition-point maps and a 3D visualization. Those come back as PNG, video, KML, GeoTIFF and Shapefile, so results drop into an existing GIS rather than staying locked in a dashboard. A typical job takes two to eight minutes depending on the analysis radius.
What model is it based on?
Jobs run live weather, fuel and topography lookups for the submitted coordinates, then simulate spread using FARSITE/FlamMap-class algorithms. The mountain pine beetle model draws on LANDFIRE data, USFS outbreak records and stand vulnerability indices. Model notes ship with every result.
Do I need an account?
Not to report a forestry concern or to read the public map — both are open. Submitting a full prediction job, viewing previous runs, or signing up for crew work requires a Sensaro account, because those are tied to your own records.
How do I report a forestry concern?
Open the reporting form, pick one of eleven categories — mountain pine beetle, mistletoe, canker disease, wood borers, bark beetles, fungus, improper pruning, stand suffocation, WUI encroachment, high wildfire risk area or active wildfire — then add coordinates from your device GPS and a photo. It takes about thirty seconds. Submissions are reviewed within 48 hours before they appear on the public map.
What area do you cover?
Monitoring and alerting currently focus on the Rocky Mountain West — the Colorado Front Range, Wyoming and northern New Mexico, with coverage extending into northern Idaho and eastern Oregon. The spread model itself runs anywhere the underlying weather, fuel and terrain data is available; ask if you work outside that footprint.
Is there an API?
Yes. It is a REST API authenticated with an X-API-Key header,
exposing survey inputs by region and raster map tiles for the wildfire and forest
health layers, with a free tier of 1,000 requests per day and higher limits on
paid accounts. Parts of it are still under construction — check the
developer portal for what is live
before building against it.
Can I get alerts for my own property?
Yes. Register a property or monitoring area with a radius from 5 to 100 miles and choose which threats to hear about — wildfires, pine beetle, high-risk conditions or community reports — by email or SMS. It is free for property owners and needs no card. Alerts are radius-specific rather than state-wide bulletins.
Does this replace official fire warnings?
No, and it is not meant to. Model scores above 70 indicate conditions conducive to rapid spread, but official Red Flag Warnings and local fire agency guidance always take precedence. The beetle forecast supplements on-ground stand assessment rather than replacing it.
What does it cost?
Public reporting, the live map and area alerts are free. Prediction jobs, API keys and district-level dashboard access are quoted per organization — tell us the area you cover and how you plan to use the output, and we will scope it. CONFIRM: pricing model — this matches the "Get a Quote" flow on the signup page, but say more if there is a published tier.
Something on the site is broken. Where does that go?
To us, directly — the bug report form on the home page or contact@sensaro.net. The site is under active construction and the dev log records what shipped and what broke, so a specific report is the fastest route to a fix.
Working on the same ground?
If you manage land, run crews, or need the spread model inside your own GIS, say what you are trying to answer and we will tell you whether the tools are there yet. Bug reports are just as welcome — the site is under active construction and the fastest fix starts with someone saying what broke.