Is There a “Report A Wildfire” Phone App?

fire close to start

I had an interesting experience today. Went for a hike with my dog on the local (higher elevation) open space. As the trail turned toward home I saw a little extra whitish tint to a mountain in the background. I knew it was a tiny fire but who to call? do they already know about it? Seems like no one would do a prescribed fire at 3PM in August, but who knows? Who should I call, if anyone?

I walked more quickly to the parking lot, where I saw an Open Space employee, who had called it in through his chain of command. Shortly thereafter, fire trucks pulled in; I asked a guy if there was a road where the fire was and he said there wasn’t.

fires trucks at parking lot

Later I went home and went to the post office; this is what the fire looked like from the post office parking lot.

Fire from Golden Post Office parking lot
Fire from Golden Post Office parking lot

I think you can click on these photos to see the fire more clearly.

So here’s my question is there a “Report a Wildfire” phone app that automatically lets you report a wildfire based on your GPS location? You can imagine it bringing up a map and the reporter locating where they see the smoke, and that information going to the local authorities. You can even imagine a screen coming up saying “this fire has already been reported” or “this is a new report, give us your phone number so we can call you and get more information.” Seems like something like this should exist, but I haven’t found one in my internet search.

6 thoughts on “Is There a “Report A Wildfire” Phone App?”

    • But I was afraid if everyone called 911 about the same fire, the phone lines would get jammed and the heart attacks, traffic accidents, etc. wouldn’t be able to get through. Because everyone for miles could be calling about seeing the same smoke.

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  1. 911, sure, but an app could provide a GPS location, useful when people don’t know exactly where they are or give incorrect location info (it happens). Or is location info collected automatically, via cell-tower triangulation, during 911 calls?

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