Watch Duty (Wildfire)

Watch Duty

About this app

Watch Duty is the only wildfire mapping and alert app powered by real people giving you real-time information vetted by trained professionals, not robots. While many other apps rely solely on government alerts, which can often be delayed, Watch Duty provides up-to-the-minute, life-saving information through a dedicated team of active and retired firefighters, dispatchers, first responders, and reporters who monitor radio scanners around the clock. We aim to keep you informed and safe with real-time updates and alerts.

Wildfire Tracking Features:

- Push notifications about nearby wildfires and firefighting efforts
- Real-time updates as conditions change
- Active fire perimeters and progress
- Infrared satellite hotspots from VIIRS and MODIS
- Wind speed and direction
- Evacuation orders & shelter information
- Historical wildfire perimeters
- Street and satellite maps
- Air attack and air tanker flight tracker
- Save locations for quick access on the map

Watch Duty is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Our service will always remain free of charge and free of advertising or sponsorship. You can support our mission with a $25/year membership, which grants access to special features as a token of our appreciation.

Disclaimer: Watch Duty is not affiliated with any government agency. The information provided in this app is sourced from publicly available and trusted sources, including but not limited to government agencies, radio transmissions, and satellite data. Specific government sources include:

- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: https://www.noaa.gov/
- VIIRS: https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/data/instruments/viirs
- MODIS: https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov
- National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC): https://www.nifc.gov
- California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE): https://www.fire.ca.gov
- California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES): https://www.caloes.ca.gov
- National Weather Service (NWS): https://www.weather.gov/
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): https://www.epa.gov/
- Bureau of Land Management: https://www.blm.gov/
- Department of Defense: https://www.defense.gov/
- National Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/
- US Fish and Wildlife Service: https://www.fws.gov/
- US Forest Service: https://www.fs.usda.gov/

For more information or support, feel free to contact us at support.watchduty.org.

Privacy Policy: https://www.watchduty.org/legal/privacy-policy

Ratings and reviews

I live in a town surrounded by fire country. This app is the best for getting updates quickly. I always check it during fire season before I go anywhere. Most of the areas I love to hike and fish in are very prone to fires, so this app is vital to make sure there are no issues before I leave on a trip. Also love the flight tracker option, so I can stay away from the areas the fire units are using for water dips.

Very helpful. It would be nice if you can set it to only notify you of fires within a certain mile range. Otherwise you'll be getting unnecessary tiny heart attacks all day every day if you live in a large county. I do not necessarily want to manually turn off notifications for every fire that is far away, on the chance that it grows so large that it actually come close.

It's a good app to have for sure, my only wish is that I could set the area by address & be able to choose how many miles away I want to start getting alerts for. Also if you could choose what you would like to be alerted for that would be great. As it is now you can only set if for the whole county & I'm forever constantly getting alerts for things all the way across the county which makes me want to turn it off.

What’s new

This release includes various improvements and fixes.