Watch Duty was downloaded 2 million times during this week’s LA fires

Fire monitoring app Watch Duty has become an important source of information for Los Angeles residents threatened by ongoing wildfires.

as TechCrunch’s Maxwell Zeff explainedthe program relies on a network of volunteer reporters who monitor radio scanners to offer active and retired firefighters, first responders, official government reports and real-time updates on active wildfires.

Watch Duty has soared to the top of Apple’s App Store charts amid this week’s fires, where official warnings may be wrong or inaccurate. And in it interview with The New York Times on SaturdayCEO John Mills said the app has been downloaded 2 million times since Tuesday and has seen 14 million unique users this week.

Mills said the program is run by a nonprofit organization with 15 full-time employees and 200 employees, funded mostly by donations. He insisted that Watch Duty collects very little personal information about users and has no intention of selling it.

“I owe it to my community not to be a disaster capitalist,” he said.