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Lainna Fader
@lainna.bsky.social
The CEO of Watch Duty used his skills as a software engineer to build the app to amplify fire safety information as a public service: “Techies are obsessed with going to Mars and inventing an AGI robot to do art. But I’m obsessed with time and life.” sfstandard.com/2025/01/09/w...
January 9, 2025 at 9:07 PM
1K reposts
76 quotes
3.8K likes
The extreme wealth in the hands of techies means they have no real problems, which is why they’re obsessed with things nobody wants (I couldn’t give less of a fuck about going to Mars) and disdainful towards things that could actually help people (mitigating/reversing climate change)
I have yet to meet anyone who actually uses any of these AI assistant garbage tools, because only CEOs and the ultrawealthy have convinced themselves that their time is so valuable that they need to delegate every single task to a servant. No normal person that I know has or needs an assistant
FYI, if you visit beautiful British Columbia, the BC Wildfire Service has a similar app. play.google.com/store/apps/d...
We have a similar app made by our state government in Victoria, Australia. 🇦🇺 It shows more than fire, we get alerts about all kinds of hazards.
apps.apple.com/au/app/vicem...
Further reading.
“As Los Angeles Fires Burn, Residents Turn to Watch Duty App-
The nonprofit app serves as a one-stop shop for updates from govt agencies, as well as evacuation perimeters — all maintained by a team of trained volunteers and paid reporters”
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Everyone I know in LA area has been glued to this app the last several days - it's been everything. It's been more reliable than anything else out there, making us aware of new flare ups within minutes of them starting.
We all owe this guy immensely.
This app is amazing during this time. When LA county sent out an inadvertent evacuation warning, I went right to the app and figured out I was still okay, and I’ve been glued to it for the whole time of these fires.
I’ve worked as a programmer for a public safety org, and my job satisfaction was an order of magnitude higher than my previous work in finance IT.
If only a fraction of the time and money spent on getting to Mars, automating basic tasks, etc., were channeled into pro-social projects like Watch Duty
Just downloaded it. Not in the fire risk area but will definitely support this project anyway I can.
I live in one of the first three CA counties that this app got its start on, and it’s been amazing from the get go. I’m so proud of how far these guys have come with this app - two of our local fire/scanner reporting folks had a hand in creating it. It’s become a must have app for the western states
A few years ago someone was setting fires around the outskirts of Healdsburg & it was so great to have them monitoring & keeping us all informed.
I don't know what I would have done without Watch Duty last summer when the Park Fire was raging only a few miles from my house. Being able to see our evac zone in relation to the fire, getting concise updates we knew we could trust ... cannot overstate how both reassuring and motivating that was.
And a small but ultimately very important thing - the Watch Duty notif sound is so distinctive that everybody understands if it goes off and you check your phone in the middle of a meeting. Because everybody knows it could actually be your house, your pets, or your loved ones you're checking on.
My son and daughter-in-law live in DTLA. I learned about Watch Duty on Wednesday from the BlueSky News feed and downloaded it immediately. It has been very helpful in not only tracking the fires but also providing important context about the location of the fires in relation to my son’s location.
Thank you. My daughter lives near LA so sending her this in case she doesn't already have it
My son and daughter-in-law live in the heart of DTLA and, despite living in a steel and concrete jungle, they told me last night that they have been using Watch Duty heavily. It was a godsend when they received an erroneous Evacuation Warning yesterday afternoon. Hope your daughter remains safe.
This app is so good. I’ve been using it for awhile but just bought a membership.
I live in California. Watch duty is absolutely the best app for information on fires. Nothing else compares.
Best app. I live in fire country and would not live without it.
Just learned about the app this week. We've relied on it to figure out what's going on. When you look out the window at night and see flames on the ridge it's impossible to figure out if it's the nearest one or far in the distance. Wasn't available for the Station Fire, huge difference. He's a hero
Downloaded the app and wow. This is great.
Seems like this is poised to be the Wikipedia of emergency information.
Sharing to read later, but…I like where the headline is leading me.
i’m curious about the future of the app. will it remain a non-profit?
They do have a yearly subscription that you can buy that adds a lot of features.
Yes you can see the planes & helicopters. It started up here in the North Bay & Sonoma was one of the original counties so have been using it awhile. We pretty much all do up here.
real talk - as someone building AI, totally agree that tech needs to focus more on immediate human impact vs sci-fi moonshots. this is why we built jenova ai to help ppl today with real tasks, not chase AGI. mad respect to Watch Duty for prioritizing life-saving tech 🙏
Mills is doing the Lord’s work, and I’m not even religious
2023 Number of U.S. wildfires: 56,580. Acres burned: 2,693,910. 🔥2022 Number of wildfires: 68,988. Acres burned: 7,577,183.🔥 2022 Alaska #1 most acres burned. Texas #1 for # of wildfires. 8 of top 10 states with most wildfires were Red & 6 of top 10 for acres burned, Red.
Maybe not available in Canada? I have family in LA so I’d sure like to access it.
That could be, I guess. I’m sorry. I submitted a question about that on the app. I’ll let you know if they answer & what they say.
Hi Lainna 🙏🏾🙏🏾
I'm sorry to bother you but I need your help to get food and a warm place for my daughter.😔😔🙏🏾
And repost my pinned post 🍉🇵🇸
