Watch Duty, a wildfire tracking app keeping Los Angeles residents informed of danger, is the latest in a growing field of apps helping civilians to survive crises.
As wildfires continue to devastate neighbourhoods around Los Angeles, locals are using a non-profit mobile app called Watch Duty to track the spread of the flames.
The free app has a built-in monitoring system that hears 911 fire reports and sends an update to the team on Slack.
Watch Duty’s team then listen and vet police scanners, and watch wildfire cameras, satellites, and other public sources of information before sending out a push alert to the app users if they’ve determined there’s a threat to life or property.
The app also shows active fire perimeters, evacuation orders, shelter information, air tanker flight trackers, wind direction, and other relevant information that people are sharing in Los Angeles about the fires.
John Mills, the co-founder of Watch Duty, told USmedia that he had conceived the idea for an app when his own California home was in peril during a wildfire in 2020.
In the absence of a single source for potentially lifesaving updates and information, Mills and a friend David Merritt created Watch Duty in 60 days, according to an interview they gave to The Verge.
Watch Duty was the highest-downloaded app in the US on iOS and Google Play for roughly five days after the LA fires started on January 7, according to app data analysis from Sensor Tower.
But it’s not just climate events provoking civilians to take matters into their own hands in starting survival apps.
While Watch Duty is the latest, there are a multitude of existing mobile apps that were either built during a conflict or environmental disaster that have now become indispensable lifelines to millions.
War in Ukraine
The Ukrainians have created mobile applications to help civilians go about their daily lives and, in some cases, help the military track the movements of Russian forces during the ongoing invasion.
The Ukrainian government launched theDiia app in 2020, which lets its 21 million users access electronic copies of their identity documents, including their passports, driver’s licenses, vehicle registration, and student ID cards.
Even though the app was put in place before the war, it has been adapted and updated since to give citizens access to more services remotely, like the right to get legally married or apply for grants.
Another app developed in part by the government is the Air Alarmapp, which gives users a loud alarm to notify them of an air raid in their chosen city or region.
A whole host of apps for military purposes have been developed too, like the EPPO app that lets civilians report enemy movements to the Ukrainian army.
As a complement to military forces, theTacticMedAid app teaches civilians what to do in case they encounter someone with a life-threatening injury. It also lets those who have been trained in pre-hospital care to get refresher material on how to help as a first responder.
For those worried about friends or family in areas that are witnessing fighting, a team developedDobre, which lets users send safety statuses to their loved ones and contacts on their phones.
Israel-Palestine conflict
Several apps in Israel and Palestine saw recent updates to withstand their ongoing conflict.
Various types of rocket tracking apps with ‘Red Alert’ in the name launched on the iOS and Google Play stores in 2024.
These apps, like ‘Tzofar’ – Red Alert, provide citizens in Israel with real-time alerts about any threats from rocket or missile fires.
Israelis who don’t want real-time alerts have the option to download Israel’s Home Front Commandapp which gives users important alerts during an emergency and contact the government directly with any information that could be useful for them.
