Hey, it's Kim Commando today, your daily podcast to keep you up to date with all things digital and beyond.

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Now, if you've ever lived where a wildfire is happening,

you know how hard it is to get good information quickly. That's because fires do move quickly.

I've talked about the Watch Duty app before. It's a great app. It maps wildfires burning

across 13 U.S. states, and it actually sends you alerts of nearby wildfires and then the firefighting

efforts in real time. It's powered by over 100 volunteers. I'm talking about firefighters,

dispatchers, first responders who monitor radio scanners and other official sources 24 hours a day.

You can get it on your phone as an app or you can just check it out on the website.

When I read about the app, I thought, oh my gosh, it would be so great to talk to somebody from watch duty.

And joining us today is John Mills. He's the CEO.

Because when we want to talk to somebody, we go straight to the top.

Thanks for having me. So John, how did this all come about?

Well, like many wildland residents, there's very little information out around these fires, especially during what's called initial attack.

So the first incidents that show up, the first hours especially are the most dangerous.

And there's very little information coming out, mostly because the firefighters are busy fighting the fire, not stood up their information office operation yet. So I've been through

a couple of these now, and after the second one, I decided enough's enough. And if I was going to

stay living here off the grid, that I was going to go fix this issue myself.

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