00:00When the blazes in Los Angeles County raged on, residents turned to a mobile app for the
00:05latest updates and where the apparent dangers lay.
00:08VOA's Michelle Quinn tells us more.
00:11As the Los Angeles fires burned and threatened communities, residents and first responders
00:18needed information they could use immediately.
00:21Evacuation zones, wind and smoke direction, power outages and more.
00:27They turned to an app called Watch Duty, run by a team hundreds of kilometers away
00:33in Northern California.
00:35Watch Duty offers residents crucial information about new outbreaks, changing wind patterns
00:41and other concerns.
00:43Think of it as a virtual emergency operations center that gives neighborhood by neighborhood
00:49updates as a crisis unfolds.
00:52My emergency and my neighbor who lives, you know, a quarter mile away from me, our emergencies
00:58are much different as well.
01:00That rings true through communities everywhere and that's where technology really comes in.
01:06Watch Duty's delivery of detailed, localized information is one reason for its popularity
01:13with its 7 million users, many of whom downloaded the app in recent weeks.
01:19Watch Duty's success points to the promise that technologies such as artificial intelligence
01:24and sensors will give residents and first responders the real-time information they
01:30need to survive and fight natural disasters.
01:34Among Watch Duty's technology partners is Alert California, run by the University of
01:39California San Diego.
01:42This network of more than 1,000 AI-enhanced cameras throughout the state looks for smoke,
01:49often detecting fires before people call emergency lines.
01:54Together we become the eyes and ears and then we disseminate that into reports to the public
01:58through our platform.
01:59Another Watch Duty partner is N5 Sensors, a Maryland-based firm.
02:05Its ground-based sensors detect smoke, heat and other signs of fire.
02:11They are like a nose, if you will, so they detect smoke anomalies and different chemical
02:16patterns in the air.
02:18Watch Duty's service covers 22 states, mostly in the western U.S., and it plans to expand
02:25to all states.
02:27While fire has been its focus, Watch Duty also plans to track other natural disasters
02:32such as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis.
02:37We want to be that one-stop shop where people can go and get this information and in those
02:43times of duress have a source that makes it clear and concise what's happening.
02:49We've got fire coming down the hill.
02:50Michelle Quinn, DOA News.
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