Science & Technology
How We Built Watch Duty, the Lifesaving Wildfire Alert App | John Mills | TED
After finding himself alone in an unreported wildfire in the woodlands of California, John Mills decided to take matters into his own hands. Hear the incredible story of how he rallied fire survivors and retired first responders to create Watch Duty, the nonprofit emergency alert system that’s beating official government warnings and buying people precious…
Science & Technology
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CNET
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Science & Technology
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@lyricsofgrace
December 15, 2025 at 11:06 am
First to comment 😊
@IlyosAbdunazar
December 15, 2025 at 11:28 am
I’m second
@kenreed798
December 15, 2025 at 2:20 pm
Great!
@Susanand3kitties
December 15, 2025 at 3:15 pm
Your App kept my son safe, and me a thousand miles away, better informed of how/where the Altadena fire was moving
@WayinVideo-DeepQA
December 15, 2025 at 7:32 pm
It’s heartwarming to hear how the app played a vital role in keeping your son safe during the Altadena fire while you were miles away. It really underscores the importance of timely and accurate information during emergencies. In situations like wildfires, every second counts, and having real-time updates can make all the difference. How did you feel knowing he had access to such a valuable resource? It must have provided some comfort amidst the chaos.
@watchdutyapp
December 16, 2025 at 9:26 am
That warms our heart, Susan – that’s exactly what we’re here for!
@KanteMullar
December 15, 2025 at 4:56 pm
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Sixty five thousand dollars biweekly and retired, oh God I’m very grateful for this blessed year 🙏🇺🇸
@KanteMullar
December 15, 2025 at 4:58 pm
Big thanks to Elizabeth Ann Zorn
@KanteMullar
December 15, 2025 at 4:59 pm
She’s a licensed broker here in the states 🇺🇸 and finance advisor.
@KanteMullar
December 15, 2025 at 5:00 pm
$150k monthly and retired. I was once broke but now retired with a good financial structure, YES! I also feel sad and lonely sometimes but happy at most times knowing I’m free.
@KanteMullar
December 15, 2025 at 5:00 pm
There is her line!!! under this comment!!!
@KanteMullar
December 15, 2025 at 5:00 pm
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@xieqichao0521
December 15, 2025 at 5:53 pm
TED Talks always help me grow spiritually🥰
@WayinVideo-DeepQA
December 15, 2025 at 7:31 pm
In a world where official alerts often fall short, the rise of community-driven solutions like Watch Duty highlights a critical shift in how we respond to crises. It’s fascinating to see how a group of passionate individuals can harness technology and local knowledge to empower themselves and their neighbors. But as we increasingly rely on these grassroots initiatives, what does that mean for trust in government systems? Are we witnessing a necessary evolution in emergency response, or are we setting a dangerous precedent by undermining established authorities? The balance between innovation and regulation is delicate, and it’s worth considering where we draw the line in our pursuit of safety.
@jessiclark-white2244
December 15, 2025 at 11:43 pm
So proud of you and of Watch Duty!
@not2moody
December 16, 2025 at 2:38 am
Excellent TED Talk 🧡
@Emily35-Official
December 16, 2025 at 9:10 am
Good effort, but may I suggest you guys look over here at the bush fire capital of the world, Australia.
As I live in Victoria, I’ll speak about “VicEmergency”, the official state government app for spreading advice.
You can set up watch zones, say for at home, or just allow it to send you nearby alerts based on your current location.
The alerts can include just “critical alerts”, like grass and bush fires, or it can be extended to include weather warnings, animal disease alerts (important for farmers to know about).
It gives alerts the moment an incident is logged at the state wide dispatch centre and is automatically updated with the number of vehicles responding, job status etc.
This is not just about firefighting, even “tree down” events and car accident events provide useful information about which roads might be blocked and should be avoided.
And getting a warning message, like an evacuation warning, is simple.
The officer in charge of an incident, or a regional commander etc, only needs to key the radio to the dispatcher and ask for a message.
Radio: “Vicfire, Incident Control, we need an evac immediately alert for Town name”.
It’s typed out and by the time the message has been read back and confirmes to be correct, its ready to hit send.
And within seconds, phones are receiving alerts.
You can look at ours on the internet, as well as find radio scanner feeds for “VicFire” to compare.
I’m not saying our system is better, in fact I’m sure we could learn a lot from your system.
But the goal isn’t to “win”, it’s to save lives.
Having a direct link to computer aided dispatch centre for police, ambulance and fire means a lot of data is updated automatically.
If an incident controller arrives at the fire and says “oh crap, send me 20 fire trucks”, the dispatcher just hits “deploy 20 fire trucks”, the most appropriate trucks are sent response pages AND the public information (website and app) is updated to show 20 trucks responding instantly.
Oh and my state also provides the “almost live” radio feeds for all it’s dispatch channels over the internet.
There is around a 30 second delay, but that might just be a technical limitation.
As a former volunteer firefighter of some 11 years with plenty of bush fire experience (and houses, car accidents etc), it is honestly a pretty good system. But would love to have “an outsider” review ours and compare.
What are we doing right, what can we do better? And likewise for your system.
Now that your governments seem on board, you can point them to a system in use by a state govenment of a close allied nation where they can see it in action, ask questions etc.
@guss1470
December 16, 2025 at 12:36 pm
I was a Wildland Fire Fighter during the early 2000s, I downloaded the Watch Duty App about 4, 3 years ago, it is very helpful. If smoke is covering my area, i use the app. I AWAYS recommend the app to everyone. Thankyou for creating the App!