After finding himself alone in an unreported wildfire, John Mills turned chaos into clarity – he rallied fire survivors and retired first responders to create a non-profit emergency alert system that has now become so indispensable, even first responders rely on it. John shared his story, the birth of Watch Duty, and the road ahead in the latest TED talk with TEDNext 2025.
We are proud to announce that Watch Duty has been named a winner by Inc. in both the Best in Innovation and Best in Social Good categories of this year’s Best in Business list.
Inc.’s annual Best in Business Awards highlight organizations whose accomplishments in the past year have meaningfully shaped their industry. The honor recognizes organizations that, through outstanding execution, have delivered major milestones and core business victories — such as rapid user growth, strategic partnerships, key product launches, and impact within and beyond their industry.
For Watch Duty, 2025 was a breakthrough moment: a year in which technological innovation, rapid scaling, and a deep mission came together. Our wildfire-alert platform surged in visibility and impact, with millions of new users turning to Watch Duty when other systems failed. This year, the team has also significantly expanded reach, deepening collaboration with first responder organizations and most recently announcing a national expansion to all 50 U.S. states.
December 1, 2025 — Watch Duty announced its expansion from 22 states to nationwide coverage, ensuring that every community now has access to verified, real-time wildfire information when it matters most.
Founded just four years ago serving only a few California counties, Watch Duty has rapidly grown into one of the most trusted voices in public safety. The nonprofit organization is best known for its actionable wildfire alerts, but also provides air quality index, wind direction, and red-flag warnings delivered directly through the Watch Duty app.
While Watch Duty’s core services remain free, ad-free, and accessible to everyone, the organization also offers a suite of advanced tools that offer deeper intelligence. These include enhanced mapping, weather insights, aircraft tracking, utility overlays, satellite detections, and other professional-grade features that are all trusted by frontline responders and delivered at a fraction of the cost of traditional commercial platforms.
“We’re transforming how disaster information is shared by putting people, not profit, at the center,” said John Clarke Mills, Co-Founder and CEO of Watch Duty. “This nationwide expansion ensures no one faces disaster in the dark, like I was in 2021 when I founded Watch Duty. By bringing first responders and technologists together, we’re solving long-standing problems in public safety and we’re doing it better, faster, and together.”
Wildfire is no longer a seasonal or local hazard. Nearly one in three Americans now lives in an area with significant wildfire risk, and drifting smoke from distant fires threatens millions more. Research reported by The Washington Post estimates that wildfire smoke contributes to more than 40,000 premature deaths in the U.S. each year, making it one of the nation’s deadliest environmental threats.
Despite modern detection and suppression tools, life-saving data often reaches the public too slowly or inconsistently to act on. Critical signals exist in fragmented systems that were never designed for public communication.
Watch Duty closes that gap. Its platform takes in, verifies, and translates this information in real time into plain-language, map-based updates people can act on immediately. During the 2025 wildfires in Los Angeles County, Watch Duty became the only lifeline, used by more than eight million people in a single week and displayed in the city’s Emergency Operations Center as a primary live intelligence feed.
With nationwide expansion, Watch Duty is building a safer America where trusted reporting moves as fast as the emergencies themselves, and every person has the information needed to protect what matters most.
How to Help
Instead of periodically checking your phone or staring at a computer screen for changes in wind, relative humidity, or air quality, you can now set your own custom thresholds to have alerts sent directly to you.
💨 Want to know when the wind gusts over 50 MPH on the nearest peak? Turn on the Weather Stations map layer and then select a station and set up your own alerts.
😷 Want to know when AQI crosses 150? Turn on the Air Quality Index (AQI) map layer and then select any PurpleAir sensor to set up notifications for that sensor.
We hope that this provides even more situational awareness to you, your loved ones, and the first responder community.
Watch Duty and PulsePoint today announced a new collaboration that connects PulsePoint vegetation fire incidents with corresponding Watch Duty incidents—combining the strengths of both platforms to provide a more complete picture for those affected by a wildfire. The partnership brings together two trusted nonprofit organizations that exist to inform and support communities when emergencies strike.
Watch Duty, powered by active and retired firefighters and first responders, provides wildfire alerts and situational updates. PulsePoint, in partnership with local public safety agencies, provides real-time notifications and resource information directly from the 911 system. By joining forces, the organizations are partnering to deepen the help and power of community members to access timely and actionable information when it matters most.
“PulsePoint has been a lifesaving tool in my community for years and was the inspiration to build Watch Duty,” said John Mills, CEO and Co-Founder of Watch Duty. “We value working with partners who share our belief that timely, accurate information helps save lives. This came really naturally for us. We’re simply doing what is right and making it easier for people and first responders to stay informed during potentially urgent events.”
“Through better integration between our platforms, PulsePoint and Watch Duty are working to make it easier to access timely and actionable information during a wildfire emergency,” said Richard Price, President and Founder of PulsePoint. “Wildfires are devastating our communities and collaboration and innovation in this space is more important than ever. We are committed to working together to improve the effectiveness and promise of both our products.”
This collaboration reflects a shared commitment to ensuring communities have access to the right information at the right time. With vegetation fires and other emergencies becoming more frequent, Watch Duty and PulsePoint will continue to explore partnerships that strengthen preparedness and public safety.
