How is Watch Duty received?Īt times, the Sonoma County-centric app has prompted critiques from fire and emergency agencies tasked with responding to these instances.Ĭal Fire Capt. It was very noisy - not productive,” Boune told the Business Journal, equating “noise” to emotion-based messages that at times get away from delivering necessary facts in times of crisis. “All of us were frustrated by what was coming out on Facebook. The beauty of the Watch Duty app, says its developers, lies in its ability to use official agency sources from a variety of sites and scanners instead of relying on social media posts. The fire destroyed 156 homes and 293 structures across the remote hills north of Guerneville, according to The Press Democrat. When the 2020 Walbridge Fire broke out near Healdsburg as part of a lightning complex, the urgency to develop the app “sealed the deal” for Boune, he said. “I thought, ‘How do I create an environment that’s safer for my children and my community?’” said the father of two, ages 5 and 7. The fear and danger instilled from the Tubbs and Kincade fires of 20, respectively, had a profound effect on Boune.
There, Boune serves as support staff, in addition to his full-time consulting tech gig, the app and parenthood. They met last summer in the parking lot of the Fort Ross Fire Department along the northern Sonoma Coast.
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Some would like to see more coordination with their agencies.ĭamian Boune, 46, of Cazadero in western Sonoma County, and John Mills, 40, of Healdsburg, two software developers, have both worked for decades in tech engineering and development. Many herald the app’s quick response time. When a fire erupts, more than 180,000 of these users are looking at the app, according to the company.īecause of this growth, the app has attracted attention from not only users but also emergency response officials. It grew from 78,000 registered devices in October to 193,000 this month. Operating for nearly a year, Watch Duty was launched in August 2021 by two Sonoma County men who concocted a program that delivers wildfire alerts on electronic devices. A computer application known for watching out for wildfires is being watched itself, gaining attention for its quick-triggered alerts among North Bay fire agencies, residents and businesses.
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