Firm hopes to sell its sensor technology to fight wildfires

SRA International Inc. has grown its Colorado Springs office from two to 45 employees since it opened nearly seven years ago and hopes to add another 20 during the next three years as it markets its remote sensing technology to be used to prevent wildfires.

The Virginia-based information technology contractor believes the same sensor systems that it provides to U.S. Northern Command and Air Force Space Command can be used by fire departments and emergency management agencies to track how prone forests near urban areas are to wildfires and keep track of fires once they start, said Greg Roman, an SRA vice president who manages its Colorado operations.

"We are excited about growth in both our traditional military programs, but also in the fire and emergency management market. Our remote sensing technology has already been used to assess wildfire risk here in Colorado Springs as well as with the recent wildfires in California. We believe our technology could be deployed across the western states," said Roman, who also heads SRA's remote sensing programs.

The bulk of SRA's work in Colorado Springs is on contracts with the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command building systems that take data from remote senors and send it through communications systems to the right personnel, Roman said. The company recently won contracts with both NorthCom and Air Force Space Command for similar work.

SRA consolidated its office at 360 N. Wooten Road on Sept. 1 with an office at 1795 Jet Wing Drive that it took over as part of its acquisition of RABA Technologies LLC in 2006.About half of the company's local employees work in their customers' offices, he said.

SRA was started in 1978 and has grown to 6,400 employees who generated $1.5 billion in revenue during the fiscal year ended June 30, mostly from contracts with the U.S. military and other federal agencies.

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