Watch Duty was launched by John Mills, who identified a critical gap in accessing reliable, centralised information about the wildfires that year.
The fast-moving wildfires in Los Angeles, California, the United States of America, has resulted in a surge of downloads for Watch Duty, a free app developed by a non-profit organisation that gives users real-time alerts about fires in their areas as well as information about the latest evacuation zones.
The app has gained more than 1.6 million new users over the past few days with most of the recent sign-ups coming from the LA County area. It is now Apple’s most downloaded free iOS app, and is considered to be one of the most trusted sources of information about the wildfires by residents and emergency responders alike.
