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.”