Watch Duty

Our prescribed fire data is now publicly available outside of Watch Duty through Esri's ArcGIS Online, providing valuable information to the public, fire services, and the research community. By making this data openly accessible, we hope to support efforts to normalize prescribed fire as a critical tool for land management and wildfire prevention. This initiative will also help reduce false alarms and unnecessary dispatches, allowing emergency services to focus on real threats. Additionally, researchers and scientists can now use this data for a wide range of applications, from improving air quality models to training AI for wildfire detection and enhancing fire behavior predictions. This is an important leap forward in improving wildfire awareness, response, and prevention. Explore the dataset and see how it can support a safer, more informed future: https://lnkd.in/gJtyXAiV cc: Genevieve Biggs Michael Wara Ralph Bloemers Bill Clerico Christopher Anthony Phillip SeLegue Ben Rogers Nick Schuler, CFO, CPC-PIO Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell Kim Zagaris Ilkay Altintas Scott Schifando Andrew Abranches Dan Munsey, MPA, EFO, CFO Jessica Block Timothy Werle Seth Schalet XPRIZE ALERTWest California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) Oregon Department of Forestry Washington State Department of Natural Resources California State Parks Audubon Canyon Ranch Jonah Seifer

"State of California Senator Henry Stern, who represents parts of L.A. and Ventura counties, kicked off the hearing noting how he made the decision to evacuate his family based on information from?Watch Duty. If anything, we’ve learned that we can embrace technology in smarter ways and build trust through citizen-driven networks and bottom-up, data-driven solutions"

We're thrilled to be named Fast Company's #1 most innovative non-profit of 2025! It's truly an honor to serve our community every day and to reimagine what a charity can look like. https://lnkd.in/emF-7yKB

Listen to our CEO & CTO speak with Amazon CTO Werner Vogels about scaling our disaster platform to millions of hourly active users at 100,000 requests per second with a tiny team and even tinier budget.

We are thrilled to join forces with San José State University's Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center (WIRC). This collaboration brings together leading experts in wildfire research, innovative technology, and forward-thinking policy to drive comprehensive wildfire solutions. By combining Watch Duty's real-time wildfire intelligence with WIRC's cutting-edge research, we aim to shape the future of wildfire preparedness, response, and recovery. Innovation and research will play a key role in strengthening wildfire resilience for communities and we couldn't be more excited about this collaboration.

Leading comes with significant responsibility, and by partnering with others, we collectively become stronger in an effort to safeguard our customers' safety and well-being. When it comes to wildfire prevention and communications, continuous improvement is what we’re all working towards to ensure a resilient future for the communities we serve. This week, we were honored to host the second annual Western Utilities Wildfire Communications Workshop at our Wildfire and Climate Resilience Center on SDG&E’s campus. We had the privilege to hear from and exchange strategies, best practices and invaluable insights with our esteemed utility peers from across the Western U.S. The power of collaboration and mutual learning was instrumental in tackling the challenges we all face together. We also welcomed and had the privilege to hear Michael Wara’s strategic perspectives and Watch Duty and ALERTWest who engaged with us on key communications strategies to further the important messaging we all share. A heartfelt thank you to all our utility peers for being here and for sharing your ideas and thoughts. Our energy future depends on our ability to unite. Collaboration is our greatest asset, whether it’s sharing wildfire mitigation strategies or advocating for necessary new policies. Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison (SCE), Xcel Energy, NV Energy, Puget Sound Energy, Portland General Electric, PacifiCorp, Idaho Power, Avista, FortisBC, FortisAlberta, AltaLink, and ATCO Electric. The knowledge and experiences shared over these two days will undoubtedly drive real progress in our collective efforts to tackle wildfire challenges across the Western U.S. #WildfireSafety #PublicSafety #WildfirePreparedness #WildfirePrevention

Please join us in welcoming former U.S. Fire Administrator, Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell, to our advisory board. Lori served as the presidentially appointed U.S. Fire Administrator from October 2021 to January 2025. Prior to her appointment, Lori served as the President and CEO of the International Public Safety Data Institute (IPSDI), which she founded after retiring from a 26-year tenure as a senior executive at the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). In 2022, Moore-Merrell led the reorganization of the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Fire Administration to realign the administration with its originating legislation and the mission contained in the 1974 Fire Prevention and Control Act. In October 2022, Dr. Moore-Merrell convened the first Summit on Fire Prevention and Control since the 1974 founding of the U.S. Fire Administration. The Summit brought together the heads of every relevant government agency—and every major fire safety organization— to articulate and execute a National Strategy for the fire service. The National Fire Service Strategy addresses firefighter recruitment, cancer screening, mental health, and climate impact on the fire service. This collaborative effort became known as the #FireServiceOneVoice movement. Dr. Moore-Merrell believes that together, we can turn a moment of crisis into an era of opportunity for the fire service. Dr. Moore-Merrell envisioned and led the research, development, and implementation of a national emergency response analytic platform known as National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS) replacing the 50-year legacy National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). Collaborating with counterparts at USDA and DOI, Dr. Moore-Merrell chaired the Wildland Fire Management and Mitigation Commission established in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) delivering the Wildland fire mitigation and management commission report and recommendations to the Congress in September 2023. She was also the visionary, creator, and chair of the Inaugural World Fire Congress 2024 - National Fallen Firefighters Foundation hosted by Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, USFA and the U.S. Department of State in May 2024. The World Fire Congress continues the global collaboration through six topic specific Communities of Practice (CoPs) that will deliver reports to the 2026 Congress. Lori began her fire service career in 1987 as a fire department paramedic in Memphis Tennessee. She is a Doctor of Public Health and a data scientist, whose work has changed fire and EMS deployment throughout the world. As the principal investigator and senior project manager, she planned and led large scale field experiments and the development of landmark reports and other resources to improve residential and high-rise fire ground operations, community risk assessment, fire and EMS resource deployment, and the use of “Big Data Analytics” in the fire service.

When Regrid spent a year tracking structure fires in Detroit, we saw firsthand how vital accurate parcel data is for fire response. We're proud to support Watch Duty with parcel data everywhere they operate in the United States. #FireResponse #ParcelData #WildfireAlert

"I don't really know any firefighters who don't have Watch Duty on their phones,” Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy says. “I mean, it literally has become the app, period.” Gift article: https://lnkd.in/gak8TfBw

OHAZ field technicians recently deployed three new wildfire cameras. They are now streaming on the ALERTWest website and the Watch Duty app! The Halls Ridge, Lenhart Butte, and Shaniko cameras will provide firefighters with another tool to detect and monitor fires on both sides of the Cascades. Learn more about our wildfire camera network at https://lnkd.in/gzHPVqqi.