ICEYE has expanded its satellite-powered disaster management capabilities with the launch of a new solution that detects both earthquake destruction and the fires that often follow.
The tool, initially available in California, is aimed at giving insurers and reinsurers faster, more precise insights into structural losses after multi-hazard events.
The new Earthquake with Fire Following capability builds on ICEYE's rapid impact assessment tools. By combining earthquake-triggered change detection with high-resolution fire damage mapping, insurers can access near-real-time information to speed up claims handling, validate losses, and gain a clearer view of catastrophe impacts.
The technology leverages ICEYE's Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite constellation, which regularly captured baseline imagery of California. When an earthquake occurs, the system activates its Rapid Impact Change Detection capability to map the affected perimeter within hours. Machine learning models trained on destruction patterns then assess fire damage, allowing insurers to distinguish building-level impacts more effectively.
According to Rupert Bidwell, vice president of insurance solutions at ICEYE, the capability is designed to provide insurers with timely and scalable insights when speed is critical for both customers and society.
For insurers, separating earthquake damage from fire damage has historically been a challenge, especially in wildfire-prone or densely populated areas. By layering earthquake and fire analysis, ICEYE’s new tool seeks to reduce uncertainty around claims attribution, a key issue for carriers managing catastrophe portfolios.
Industry analysts noted that the development comes at a time when insurers and reinsurers face mounting pressure to improve catastrophe loss estimation. Attribution of losses between earthquake and fire has long been difficult, particularly in urban centers, but access to independent, verifiable data in near real-time could support faster reserving decisions, strengthen reinsurance recoveries and reduce disputes in claims settlement.
Analysts also highlighted broader market implications. With California already viewed as a peak peril, secondary losses from fire following are a major concern for both primary insurers and reinsurers. Access to granular damage data could help firms refine catastrophe models, allocate capital more efficiently, and provide more accurate loss estimates to investors, the analysts said.
Meanwhile, ICEYE said it is planning to expand the new capability to other markets in the future, making multi-peril impact layers available through its Solutions Suite for portfolio and risk management applications.
