When Cal Fire began advertising a new app for near real-time updates on wildfires and evacuations this month, Instagram users quickly noticed some similarities to another app on their phone.
Cal Fire does not credit Watch Duty as inspiration for the new app, AwareCA, yet it alleviates an uneasiness many fire officials have with that app. Watch Duty exploded in popularity by providing up-to-the-minute firefighting updates, fire perimeters, and on-the-scene reports to people previously stuck navigating a fractured system of emergency alerts that gave minimal information.
Suddenly, residents were getting life-and-death information from a source over which emergency officials had no control.
Frankly, I’m excited this app exists because it’s just another data source that can be integrated into the vastly superior Watch Duty app.