I don’t know a single person here in Sonoma County who doesn’t already have the Watch Duty app downloaded and poised to start spewing notifications, in case of wildfire. But most of my Los Angeles friends had never heard of it before Jan. 7, when the city erupted in flames. Now they’re hooked — refreshing the Watch Duty app day and night, like their lives depend on it. Indeed, they might.
Rural Healdsburg resident John Clarke Mills, a tech entrepreneur who moved here from the Bay during COVID, launched the app as a nonprofit venture in 2021. John, known for his signature tilted hat with a feather in it, told me in an interview at Dry Creek Bar last summer that he saw a gaping hole in the market during the Walbridge Fire of 2020. He noticed — like the rest of us! — that there was no reliable way to get all the wildfire updates we needed in one place. Public agency platforms were sorely lacking. So, unlike the rest of us, he did something about it.
The free Watch Duty app he built (with some help) now works with government agencies to compile everything from evacuation notices to fire perimeter maps to wind direction data, to keep civilians informed in real time. Before the LA fires, it already had millions of users. And in the time since it became a staple of LA fire-watching, it has reportedly added millions more. Watch Duty is now the No. 7 free app in Apple’s app store.
When I reached out to John last week for an interview, he said he didn’t have time to talk, given the crazy demand on his app and “national news interviews back to back.” I’ll try not to hold it against him, seeing as he’s a local hero and all! A slew of other publications have covered the recent rise of Watch Duty in SoCal: Newsweek. The New York Times. The Los Angeles Times. The LA Daily News. Rolling Stone. The Hollywood Reporter. SiliconValley.com. The Verge. CNET. NBC News. CBS News. The Press Democrat. And the list goes on.
Here’s what the Gray Lady had to say:
“Watch Duty has become a lifeline in tracking the multiple wildfires blazing around the city. In a county of nearly 10 million people, the news of the app has spread by word of mouth and in online community groups. The app has sometimes provided faster and more reliable updates than the city’s buggy mobile notification system. … Mr. Mills operates the app through a nonprofit with a team of 200 volunteers and 15 full-time employees, including retired firefighters and dispatchers. That team listens to radio broadcasts from emergency responders and transmits live updates to the app, which maps the fires and delineates evacuation zones.”
Hat tip to you, John. 🪶
