A smartphone app designed to provide real-time disaster mapping and forecasting is gaining widespread use amid increasing climate-driven emergencies across the United States. Watch Duty, a nonprofit organization launched five years ago, offers a platform aggregating data from government warnings, weather forecasts, radio scanners, and social media to help residents, emergency responders, and utilities prepare for natural disasters.

Initially focused on tracking wildfires in select California counties, the app’s user base and geographic scope have expanded rapidly. In January 2025, following a major wildfire in Los Angeles, millions of new users joined the service. Contributions from utilities and philanthropic organizations have supported the app’s growth, which now covers wildfire activity on the East Coast and emerging threats from catastrophic flooding in various regions.

This year, Watch Duty reported having 10 million unique users, putting it on track to surpass last year’s total of nearly 17 million. The service is becoming a critical tool in areas not traditionally seen as high-risk for wildfires and floods, reflecting a broader shift in disaster risk patterns tied to climate change. According to Climate Central, extreme weather events cost the United States over $100 billion in damages last year, driven in part by global warming’s influence on atmospheric conditions that fuel heavier rainfall and exacerbate drought-prone landscapes.

The app’s co-founder and chief executive, John Clarke Mills, emphasized the technological gap it aims to fill. Despite relying heavily on government data, Watch Duty provides a level of rapid and accessible information distribution that public agencies have struggled to match. “If they’re not going to do it, we’re going to do it,” Mills said, highlighting the group’s role amid budget cuts to federal agencies like the Weather Service and FEMA under the current administration.

Watch Duty offers free access to its service, with paid memberships providing additional features such as alerts for multiple counties and detailed mapping data. Last year, more than 111,000 users subscribed to its $25 tier, doubling the previous year’s number. Commercial contracts with utilities, telecom companies, and railroads brought in $1 million in recurring revenue last year, with expectations to more than double in 2026. Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), which acknowledged responsibility for the deadly 2018 Camp Fire in California, uses an internal version of the app to monitor fire risks alongside its power infrastructure.

Emergency management professionals have praised Watch Duty’s ability to streamline data analysis, enabling near-instantaneous notifications about fire threats, a process that once required hours to compile. Beyond wildfires, the app recently incorporated flood tracking. In Missouri, a sudden rainfall event delivering over a foot of rain within hours attracted tens of thousands of users to Watch Duty’s flood page within weeks of launching flood coverage.

Despite the app’s growing reach, challenges remain in ensuring effective warnings for all communities, particularly in areas with complex terrain or limited digital access. Rebecca Shelton, a policy director for the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, noted ongoing difficulties in regions like Eastern Kentucky with flood readiness, emphasizing the need for reliable, actionable information at the community level.

While acknowledging these limitations, Mills pointed to the increasing demand for Watch Duty’s services as evidence of its utility. He added that the app’s purpose is safety rather than attracting attention, suggesting that quieter disaster seasons—if they occur—would naturally reduce usage without diminishing its importance as a tool for emergency preparedness.