With fire season escalating across the West this week, many people are downloading Watch Duty App for the first time. But what is Watch Duty all about? Why was it created? Where does their information come from? What do agency employees think about it?

We spoke to Watch Duty CEO John Mills about the Watch Duty app as well as fire technology more broadly, and gave him a chance to respond to some listener questions from PIOs, wildland firefighters, community resilience experts and others in the Life with Fire community. His responses are about as no-BS as they come, and he provided an honest assessment of where the app is currently and where he’d like it to be in the near and far-off future. A few things they’re adding in the near future include a version of the app just for first responders, which John speaks to in the episode, while in the longer term he’s looking forward to exploring how Watch Duty can provide more opportunities for community education about wildfire and wildfire resilience. 

Timestamps: 

07:33 – Interview starts, John explains his background in Silicon Valley

10:10 – The Beginnings Of Watch Duty 

12:12 – John’s experiences of the Walbridge Fire 

13:21 – Watch Duty’s Functionality 

16:20 – How they find reporters/contributors for Watch Duty 

18:06 – Concerns and Questions from PIOs/PAOs 

21:07 – Gaining Trust And Users 

22:25 – The Future of The App

25:01 – Upcoming Watch Duty Features   

26:48 – Public Education Features 

29:40 – Watch Duty’s Role In The Fire Tech Space 

34:48 – John’s Thoughts On the Fire Tech Industry 

42:39 – Watch Duty’s Main Benefit Is Efficiency 

47:16 – How People Use Watch Duty 

49:50 – The Reason They Don’t Allow Comments on Watch Duty

50:49 – Outro