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By Monica Sager
Live News Reporter
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Nonprofit and nongovernmental organization Watch Duty is stepping up to assist people in need in California by providing up-to-date and accurate information on the ongoing fire situation, something that the state's government has been criticized for not doing properly.
"People just want that next piece of information to learn how close they are to going home or if they have a home," Nick Russell, vice president of operations, told Newsweek. "We built our systems knowing that there was going to be times where millions of people would need to receive our notifications simultaneously."
Why It Matters
The blazes that began in the hilltop communities surrounding Los Angeles are part of a growing trend of increasingly destructive wildfires fueled by climate change, urban sprawl and inadequate resources for firefighting. The fires have destroyed thousands of homes and businesses and have killed at least 24 people.
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In all, the fires had consumed almost 40,000 acres. The Palisades fire was 13 percent contained by Sunday night, while containment on the Eaton fire had reached 27 percent. A third blaze, the Hurst fire, was 95 percent contained by Sunday night.
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What To Know
Watch Duty is run by over 200 volunteers. The free app, with some paid membership levels, works after a 911 dispatch center receives a call about a vegetation fire. The Watch Duty crew then alerts the team in its Slack.
Available reporters then monitor their radio scanners, wildfire cameras, satellites and other public sources for information. If the Watch Duty team perceives a threat to life or property, they notify the affected public through the Watch Duty app. The incident is continuously monitored and updated throughout the fire until it is extinguished or no longer a threat.
"We were so frustrated trying to find information because you're going to CA: Fire's website to find about the fire, you're going to (the office of emergency services') website to find out about evacs, and you're bouncing between all these platforms just to put a small piece of the story together," Russell said.
"Watch Duty was built as a purpose-built delivery platform to get clear, concise information...just give that information with a focus on everything we found challenging before."
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California Governor Gavin Newsom has been facing criticism from figures like Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump and angry residents who have accused the state of mismanaging resources and being slow to contain the fires.
California officials, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley, have faced scrutiny over reports of fire hydrants being empty amid the firefighting efforts. Newsom said he had called for an independent investigation into why this happened.
A false evacuation alert was mistakenly sent to all 10 million Los Angeles residents. It had been intended for a single district. Widespread confusion and concern took place due to the "technical error."
Watch Duty did not send out the message.
"We have tons of redundancies put in place both on the human side to ensure that we are all interacting and collaborate," Russell told Newsweek. "We always know what's about to happen before it does. Everybody [has] clear communication and saying, 'Here's my next intention.' We can ensure duplicate alerts are never sent and then our engineers have developed in the back end to ensure that we never send an erroneous alert that's unintentional."
Russell told Newsweek that this was "far from the first event" of which Watch Duty was a part*.* Before the Los Angeles fires, Watch Duty had three million users. Now, that is up to five million, with 100,000 requests per second.
Russell said he and his team worked to grow their systems, especially after the park fire this past summer in northern California.
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"We've heard countless stories of Watch Duty sent an alert, not just in this fire but in other fires as well, well before a government alert," Russell said. "That's not a knock to the government. You just have every able-bodied person in that initial attack of a wildfire focused on suppression and lifesaving themselves.
"Law enforcement evacuating people. There's people involved with that public communication but that's not the primary focus...We're trying to fill that little gap."
He added that Watch Duty works to "make sure that each community is handled uniquely."
What People Are Saying
Conspiracy theorist and media personality Alex Jones, on X: "Governor Gavin NewScum is lying when he says the LA Fire Department has contradicted @elonmusk about the cause of the historic firestorm. If you want to know what really happened and how to stop it taking place again start by investigating the CEQA Act."
California Governor Gavin Newsom said last week: "My message to the incoming administration, and I'm not here to play any politics, is please don't play any politics."
Nick Russell, vice president of operations of Watch Duty, told Newsweek: "It's an honor. It's a privilege, but it's also something we take very seriously because, you know, last week, before the first ignition occurred on the Palisades, we had beefed up our staffing to ensure that we had people all hands on deck. We've been watching it a week ahead of time."
What's Next
Russell told Newsweek that it's "hard to say" if there will be another fire in the coming days, but he does acknowledge that the conditions are unfortunately right for another ignition.
"With the surface winds and what's expected over the next 48 hours, any fire that does start will spread dangerously," Russell said. "I think it's important that everybody understands that the Palisades fire and the Eaton fire and the other fires are a perfect example that when driven wildfires are next to futile to suppress because many times the water is not making it to the fire and at a certain wind speed aircraft can no longer fly."
However, Russell wanted to impart one piece of advice to anyone in a potential fire situation: to update their voice message recordings. When people out of state try to contact those affected, the calls will often not go through.
"Adjusting your voicemail message with your status is very powerful," Russell said. "You can put a recording and say we're safe; this is where we are, we'll update this message, you know, in an hour, whatever it is. It's so that way [if] people can't get through to you, they know your status, and they're not reporting you missing."
Follow Newsweek's live blog as we provide live updates on the Los Angeles fires and their impact.
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