wet forest moon folklorist

after a week in fire country, i'm a #WatchDuty believer. really cool nonprofit model for coordinating instant alerts from multiple agencies beyond social media bubbles

"Watch Duty is a service, not an app, powered by over 100 volunteers – firefighters, dispatchers, and first responders – who diligently monitor radio scanners and other official sources 24 hours a day to send you the most up-to-date information."

https://www.watchduty.org/

Watch Duty - Wildfire Maps & Alerts

Watch Duty, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, alerts you of nearby wildfires and firefighting efforts in real-time.

Jul 7, 2024 at 11:49pmWeb
Show threadKitJul 7, 2024
@seachanger It’s so good
Show threadPanic at the CostcoJul 8, 2024
@seachanger oh it’s amazing. I have family in Ruidoso, NM and they just experienced a devastating wildfire and watch duty was the only one giving accurate and up to date information.
Show threadRachel Gustave Lee MathesJul 8, 2024
@seachanger Thank you for sharing this. This is so good already! 
Show threadJason CosperJul 8, 2024

@seachanger It’s been trending in the App Store here in Bakersfield all weekend.

I downloaded it after seeing your toot tho and it has a major power outage in our neighborhood listed as well as all the nearby fires.

Show threadJackJul 10, 2024
@seachanger it's a great tool, and I am so impressed with the level of detail and speed reported by the volunteers. I just wish there was a standard system that could be implemented across all agencies to automatically report and update this data in real time. Maybe one day...
Show threadcmgrowellJul 10, 2024

@seachanger The other day when there was a fire in town we went over to our nearby park to check on progress of it since we had a view of it there. Every neighbor that passed us said we should get the Watch Duty app (we already had it and @ai6yr was the one making all of the reports on it).

It seemed like all of the neighbors were very nonchalant about that fire. It wasn't burning towards us due to the winds, but I wondered if any of that had to do with having accurate information available via Watch Duty.

Show threadLemniscateJul 10, 2024
@seachanger Excellent service. We have our share of fires in the area, but also get smoke from ones far away sometimes. It’s a relief to be able to see which something likely is when a plume is spotted.