Watch Duty: Wildfire Maps App Reviews

As a fire wife and a fire mom, we watch all the big fires and even some of the little ones. I love that there is very timely information, including size, maps, pictures, ground photos, and regular updates. I really like the flame symbol that shows the size of the fire and then and grey shadow to show the fire is going out.

This App is wonderful because it sends out notifications as soon as a fire is reported, plus regular updates on fire status. Since I work in a rural community over 4 counties providing healthcare, it gives me peace of mind knowing when a fire has broken out, so I can avoid the area, plus notify my patients quickly in case they need to evacuate. I live in a high fire danger area so this App has been an absolute must.

So good we’re dependent on it!! Other maps are very secondary. We don’t pay for most apps but after a few weeks we had no problem paying $25 for this one, especially since we are surrounded by fires!

We are traveling and staying in many forested areas such as state and national parks and not familiar with local areas by name. Map lets us easily know exactly which watch area we are in. Alerts let us know status and if we reach evacuation level. Very up to date info compared to local news stations. Thank you for keeping us safe!

Well designed and very useful. We live on a mountain in Montana with on route to and from our home. This app could save our lives.

This app is the bomb diggity! Timely information on the disastrous results of zero forest management for 30 years.

We have so many fires going in our county now that it’s scary! I’m so grateful to have an easy to use application to keep track of them. It’s much easier than tracking down all of the information myself.

Better than the Gov. app…

This app is a must have for keeping track of fire season. I only have one wishlist item: it would be nice to have a layer with the smoke forecast, I usually pull this information from firesmoke.ca

Love it getting notification so fast. My stress has dropped I spend the 45 to upgrade worth it. A fire about 10 miles away I could see the planes & helicopters working the fire

Our number one, and really only concern, living in the mountains is the potential for fires. Watch Duty has our back, and is the ultimate alert system for us. Notification of initial fires comes quickly, and updates are provided very frequently. Watch Duty gives us great peace of mind knowing that there is someone out there keeping an eye on things. Thank you!

Been using this app for several months. It works great, provides critical information and is an essential preparedness tool especially in rural locations. Feature request: would it be possible to add lightening strike layer? I think that would be an invaluable addition! Thank you for a tremendous app.

I live in a Tier 3 fire zone. Prior to Watch Duty I had to rely on NextDoor or Facebook for fire information, which was highly inadequate. Watch Duty has given me the power to know real time information. Life saving! Highly recommended!

I feel safer being able to review the fires in my area and this app makes that possible. I had to evacuate by home 3 years ago due to an arson fire at the perimeter of my neighbor hood. I did not have the app then and if I did I would have evacuated sooner. I can also check other areas on this app. Really a great tool for keeping your loved ones and pets safe.

It used to be very frustrating not knowing if local smoke was needle burning nearby or a real fire some distance away. Even real fires could be under different jurisdictions and hard to get good info on. You provide the information we need quickly and easily. Thank you for peace of mind in general and info that could be life saving in an emergency.

We live in a fire prone area. We use this app to get alerts of any fires in our area, to see if we need to evacuate.

Including themselves of course! Seriously though, this non-profit group has been an incredible source of information during the past few fire seasons. They’ve rolled out features that lets you easily get alerted if there are fires in multiple locations as well. This has been super helpful with older parents, kids off at school, family, and friends.

I became a Watch Duty member last year -happy to make an additional donation to keep the site operating. Thank you to the dedicated staff, and many volunteers, who bring us important safety information year around.

Watch Duty is our “go to” for fire info in the western US. Living in the Napa Valley, we love the live notifications, updates, camera views, etc. Watch Duty rocks!

This app is very well put together, organized, and has a great user interface. Very valuable.

Living in a National Forest and working in disaster response this app is definitely helpful in keeping me updated on wilfires, Rx burns and events in areas near me and potential deployment situations. I get immediate info and fast updates. One suggestion: can this app be made available for Apple Watch Ultra? Great job 👏 Duty Watch !

So much information, reliable, and if you become a member you get even more. It’s a good deal, and a good app to support.

By far the best and most informative fire information on the internet!!!

If you live somewhere impacted by wildfires and could have only one app, this is it. Timely and accurate information. Well worth the yearly subscription.

However I felt I absolutely needed to speak up and offer both thanks and appreciation to the developers. All I can say is thank you. It's ease of use and information is top notch. It serves its needed purpose which is to inform the general public in real time and sometimes even includes pictures. I have downloaded this app on each of my devices and all are in the dock of each device. Great work everyone, great work!!

Because I used this app soboften I decided it was worth paying for And became a member . Keep up the great work in the app and fir expanding to more states.

I’ve had this app since the beginning and it has notified us of fires near our home in the CA Sierra Mountains many times before any governmental alerts. They’re up to date on fire status at all times and I am so thankful for this app. 🥰

This is a volunteer based company I highly recommend becoming a member plus you’ll be able to see more notifications on small fires. Are Mario just support them you guys we don’t have any other app like this.

Great features, important information for living in Southwest Oregon, worked flawlessly for several months, now won’t fully load the screen, then freezes.

I live in the Sierra Foothills with two horses. This is prime wildfire country. I have experienced fires and evacuations. Watch Duty has the info before any other app. It’s my “go to!”

Great app !! accurate and reliable information

A wonderful & much needed service for alerting people to near by wild & domestic fires in our area! We are thankful of this service & the people that fight fires! Our Hero’s! Sincerely, Linda Harwood & Family

This site has been valuable in providing current info on fires in our immediate area. No need to bounce from county and state sights.

I live in the foothills and slept with my scanner running all night during fire season, now Watch Duty does the scanning for me so I can sleep! Thanks WD

I previously turned off notifications for a fire because it was updating but out of my concern area. It has now expanded and I want notifications back on, but every time I click it, it immediately turns it back off. Other than that, it's a great app.

Very useful app, great interface, easy to use.

It’s that time of the year again that I have to reinstall this app

I love the app and concept of the app however with all my phone notifications set to on and notifications for the app set I still do not get notifications for fires in counties I have set for notifications.

This app is better than any scanner it is fast and accurate without false alarms it only alert you when you need to know!

The one thing this app needs is the ability to be able to get notifications on wildfires in any county across the US, so that way if a wildfire pops up in my state(Kentucky) like there is now, it would be nice to have notifications for the counties affected so I can see where the fire(s) is/are going.

I don't write reviews, but seeing as this app only had 457 at the time of writing, I had to call attention to Judy how good this app is. Notifications work flawlessly, all California Counties covered. Get this app if you want to be notified of fire danger.

Thank you for this app. It shouldn’t be so hard to know whether you are in fire danger or not. This is the best app I’ve found and Ive tried several. For those of us that now live on “high fire alert” this app is a must. It has helped with my fire anxiety. I need to see if it offers an alert if a fire is within a set number of miles. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Locations on maps are far too small and I cannot get the words to increase in size with my fingers as I usually can with other apps. Map expands and labels on locations do not.

This is an amazing app. As wildfire danger has escalated over the years it’s been difficult to access reliable real time info. These folks have done it. Kudos. And thank you.

We live in the back country where fires seem to be more frequent every year. This app is awesome and I want to thank those responsible for developing and running it. The info is updated frequently with the most accurate and up to date fire information.