Watch Duty

Real-time wildfire cameras from ALERTWest and ALERTCalifornia are now integrated directly into Watch Duty and viewable on our map! ALERTCalifornia incorporates more than 20 years of UC San Diego research into their state-focused camera network of nearly 1,100 cameras. Outside California, ALERTWest partners with other universities and stakeholders to operate hundreds more cameras in neighboring states, with the network constantly expanding. It’s an honor to partner with these two organizations to provide you with the most actionable wildfire information available. Once you've updated your app, open the ‘Layers’ drawer found in the top right hand corner of your map and select ‘Live Wildfire Cameras’. When you zoom in you will see the cameras appear. Clicking on one allows you to view in real-time as well as a 6-hour time-lapse.

It was a pleasure sharing my unfiltered views on wildfire technology as well as my favorite topic, wildfire signals intelligence, on Amanda Monthei’s "Life With Fire" Podcast.  While we’re at it we talk about how Watch Duty was born, where we are going, and my hopes for the future of technologists trying to solve complex environmental challenges.

It’s that time of year again when bad air quality becomes all too familiar.  You can keep a watchful eye with our AQI layer from PurpleAir, Inc.  Like Watch Duty itself and many of our citizen-scale projects, community members can host a sensor to provide air quality data to the world.  If you would like to host a sensor, especially an outdoor one in a remote area, you and everyone will benefit.  PurpleAir, Inc. is already a donor to Watch Duty and we do not make money from sales or this post but strengthening their network also strengthens ours.

It’s an honor to welcome life-long activist and freedom fighter Carl Malamud to our advisory board. Carl has made a career of fighting for our civil and digital rights by liberating tax-payer funded information that has been held hostage and resold back to the American people for a profit. His activism career began in the 1990’s when he published the SEC database (EDGAR) online that was previously only viewable in a special reading room in Washington, D.C. or resold by private corporations for a high price. He then went on to work with the National Archives after they had made a deal with Amazon who were profiteering from selling the video library back to the people – everything from the moon landing to JFK’s inauguration speech. Carl crowdsourced volunteers to not only buy the videos from Amazon and upload them on YouTube but he convinced the National Archives to allow his volunteers in and copy the media in their vaults in Washington, D.C. and upload it. That YouTube channel is still being used today. Most recently Carl founded Public Resource (public.resource.org), a non-profit organization that has for the last 15 years posted the laws of the United States for all citizens to read freely. They are responsible for making the fire, electrical, building, and other public safety codes available for free on the Internet. Previously these codes were sold by standards organizations for a profit, forcing everyone from contractors to fire fighters to pay to read the laws that they were legally obligated to adhere to. When sued by standards organizations for posting the law, he fought back in a ten-year court battle and won a decisive victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals (and won a similar decisive victory in the EU Court of Justice). When Georgia sued him for posting their laws, he brought the fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court which declared that the law belongs to the people. Carl’s courageous spirit and selfless dedication to the people is exemplary of our founders, staff, and every one of our volunteers who operate Watch Duty. His work and his speech “10 Rules for Radicals'' (https://lnkd.in/gr6X9gxz) has become our instruction manual for how to fight for and create lasting change in a world that is increasingly driven by scarcity and profit. Carl is also proud to be a long-time resident of Sonoma County, where Watch Duty was founded.

“One expert after another said Watch Duty is their go-to resource for information, including maps of wildfires, the activities of firefighting crews, air-quality alerts and official evacuation orders.”

“I was on my app the whole time. The Watch Duty App. We didn’t get [an official] warning”, Eric Morrow of Ruidoso, NM told CNN. Paradise, Santa Rosa, Lahaina, and now Ruidoso — but this time Watch Duty was there. Never again. Not on our watch.

California State Parks has partnered with Watch Duty to enhance prescribed fire awareness throughout the state.  State Parks will post real-time updates about prescribed fires directly on the Watch Duty app. This collaboration will help keep residents, fire services, and first responders safe and informed as they reduce fuels to help prevent wildfires.

Our CEO sat down with GitHub, one of our generous donors now owned by Microsoft, to discuss how technology plays a critical role in disaster response.  

“I’ve had airtanker pilots and helicopter pilots tell me that prior to Watch Duty, they wouldn’t know much about a fire they’re responding to, other than what the dispatch information would give them, until they arrived,” said Brian Fennessy, Chief of Orange County Fire Authority.

At approximately 12:20PM yesterday, our Delphire Inc Sentinel FD3 system deployed at the Pine Cove Water District in Idyllwild, CA detected an ignition from about 15 miles away. This is a new record for our cameras. We confirmed this to be a prescribed burn near Thomas Mountain, CA using the Watch Duty app which posted the ALERTCalifornia photo at about 1PM. This highlights the importance of multiple camera positions when detecting ignitions early, something that our solar and battery powered system can do without needing expensive infrastructure! Time is critical when fighting a fire which is why we also have our Remote Activation in the PumpPodUSA.com HeloPod water dip source deployed nearby which will enable a rapid water availability for repeated helicopter drops on real fire threats in the area this summer.