Fire tracking app Watch Duty has become an important source of information for Los Angeles residents threatened by the ongoing wildfires.
As TechCrunch's Maxwell Zeff explains.The app is for active and retired firefighters; first responders; It relies on a network of volunteer reporters monitoring radio scanners to provide official government reports and real-time updates on active wildfires.
Watch Duty has soared to the top of Apple's App Store charts during this week's blaze of official warnings that it could be buggy or incorrect. versus Saturday interview with The New York TimesThe app has been downloaded more than 2 million times since Tuesday and had 14 million unique users this week, CEO John Mills said.
Mills said the app is run primarily by donations, with 15 full-time employees and 200 employees. He asserted that Watch Duty collects very little of users' personal information and has no intention of selling it.
“I owe it to my community not to be a disaster capitalist,” he said.