Fire tracking app Watch Duty has become a vital source of information for Los Angeles residents under the ongoing threat of wildfires.
As TechCrunch's Maxwell Zeff explained, the app relies on a network of active and retired firefighters, first responders, official government reports, and volunteer reporters who monitor radio scanners to monitor ongoing It provides real-time updates on wildfires.
This week's fires have propelled Watch Duty to the top of Apple's App Store charts, even though official alerts may have been buggy or inaccurate. And in an interview with The New York Times on Saturday, CEO John Mills said the app had been downloaded 2 million times since Tuesday and had 14 million unique users this week.
Mills said the app is run by a nonprofit organization funded primarily by donations and has 15 full-time employees and 200 employees. He claimed that Watch Duty collects very little personal data about its users and does not intend to sell it.
“I have a responsibility to the community not to become a disaster capitalist,” he said.