Watch Duty, California wildfire tracker app, attracts users, raises some concern from public officials

A computer application known for watching out for wildfires is being watched itself, gaining attention for its quick-triggered alerts among North Bay fire agencies, residents and businesses.

Operating for nearly a year, Watch Duty was launched in August 2021 by two Sonoma County men who concocted a program that delivers wildfire alerts on electronic devices. It grew from 78,000 registered devices in October to 193,000 this month. When a fire erupts, more than 180,000 of these users are looking at the app, according to the company.

Because of this growth, the app has attracted attention from not only users but also emergency response officials. Many herald the app’s quick response time. Some would like to see more coordination with their agencies.

Damian Boune, 46, of Cazadero in western Sonoma County, and John Mills, 40, of Healdsburg, two software developers, have both worked for decades in tech engineering and development. They met last summer in the parking lot of the Fort Ross Fire Department along the northern Sonoma Coast. There, Boune serves as support staff, in addition to his full-time consulting tech gig, the app and parenthood.

The fear and danger instilled from the Tubbs and Kincade fires of 2017 and 2019, respectively, had a profound effect on Boune.

“I thought, ‘How do I create an environment that’s safer for my children and my community?’” said the father of two, ages 5 and 7.

When the 2020 Walbridge Fire broke out near Healdsburg as part of a lightning complex, the urgency to develop the app “sealed the deal” for Boune, he said. The fire destroyed 156 homes and 293 structures across the remote hills north of Guerneville, according to The Press Democrat.

The beauty of the Watch Duty app, says its developers, lies in its ability to use official agency sources from a variety of sites and scanners instead of relying on social media posts.

“All of us were frustrated by what was coming out on Facebook. It was very noisy — not productive,” Boune told the Business Journal, equating “noise” to emotion-based messages that at times get away from delivering necessary facts in times of crisis.

How is Watch Duty received?

At times, the Sonoma County-centric app has prompted critiques from fire and emergency agencies tasked with responding to these instances.

Cal Fire Capt. Tom Knecht believes the Watch Duty app is operated with “the best of intentions.” But he would like the apps’ volunteer reporters and managers to check in with the agencies’ public information officers to verify the information they’re hearing on the radio before they post it.

“One of the issues we’re having is whenever police and fire departments release information, we have to be ‘triple dog’ sure of it, and we’re on the same page. People don’t realize there’s more going on behind the scenes,” he said. The label he’s referring to in public safety circles is called “unified command.”

The issue arises for Knecht when Watch Duty sends out messages that imply it’s OK for residents to return to homes and businesses after they have evacuated.

“That’s a struggle,” he said. “There’s value in the speed to get people out of harm’s way, but there’s no reason to getting people back in before it’s safe for re-entry,” he said.

Knecht also took issue with an instance that brought on “unintended consequences.” Cal Fire responded to a Lake County fire last summer and needed to apply for an assistance grant for disaster relief from the state. When the California Office of Emergency Services caught wind of the Watch Duty’s announcement “forward progress stopped,” it assumed that funding was no longer necessary and canceled the request.

“I hope, with the path going forward, we can work together to release the information, concurrently. It’s not good for the community to have it in draft form,” he said.

Boune concurred, pledging to work alongside agencies to put out the most accurate information available.

“We’ve addressed some of these issues. This is all good — good information and one of our tenets. Nothing is perfect. But do we want to achieve the best possible scenario? Yes,” Boune said in response. “We’ll be more thoughtful in how we report containment.”

Still, Boune warned that the relationship between the two parties will not always be in full agreement. For example, he balked at being responsible for how other state offices perceive the language of fighting fire.

“It all boils down to a misunderstanding of what is meant by ‘forward progress stopped,’” he said. “We know it does not mean the risk is gone. It does not mean containment. But we totally support (Cal Fire) and understand how hard it is to get in front of this information. It’s very important to us that people understand what is official.”

Many public safety officials noted Watch Duty serves a purpose that hits home as well.

California Highway Patrol Officer David Derutte, the regional spokesman, said his wife is “crazy about” the app.

“We use it personally and know the tone,” he said. “I have no reason not to believe them. And with everything we’ve gone through in the last few years (in the North Bay), we’re trying to get all the information (on threats) out there.”

Sonoma County Office of Emergency Management Director Chris Godley said he can see how there may be “a concern” in delivering evacuation information that could be subject to change.

“That could be a disservice to the community. It’s a challenge, especially for fire, which is what they’re focused on,” Godley said. “We simply ask (Watch Duty) to wait for us to do that. The harder task is discerning the information because you’re only getting part of the picture.”

By the same token, Godley said county OES — along with other agencies — met with Watch Duty managers early on to help in their efforts.

From that, the list of official emergency information sources was born for the county.

“This came about because we were getting a lot of feedback about the apps and other social media sites providing information on fires. We all came together to develop this page as a place for official sources of information,” Santa Rosa Fire Department spokesman Paul Lowenthal said.

A difficult but necessary task

“Anyone can build ‘Watch Duty,’ but it’s harder to put together the people to operate it,” Mills, the Watch Duty executive director, said of the dozen “core reporters” that assemble the snippets of calls coming through dispatch services.

Watch Duty operates on a shoe-string budget as a startup, initially operating with about $30,000 in donations. Going forward, the Watch Duty developers plan to host donor-funded events to raise money.

Nonetheless, Mills and Boune declare the app was not built as a profit-making venture. It was formed as a nonprofit organization, with its managers on a quest to be a part of something greater than themselves in the hopes it “transcends” business profit. The long-term goal is to branch out to other types of disaster calls that afflict all corners of California. When it expanded across the state, the developers “saw a big jump” in users to 105,000, according to Boune.

“At some point, we’ll be covering other disasters,” Mills said, with Boune stressing the likelihood they could land here.

Susan Wood covers law, cannabis, production, tech, energy, transportation, agriculture as well as banking and finance. For 27 years, Susan has worked for a variety of publications including the North County Times, Tahoe Daily Tribune and Lake Tahoe News. Reach her at 530-545-8662 or susan.wood@busjrnl.com.

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