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

The fire monitoring app Watch Duty has become a key source of information for Los Angeles residents threatened by ongoing wildfires.

As TechCrunch’s Maxwell Zeff explainedthe app relies on a network of active and retired firefighters, emergency responders, official government reports and volunteer reporters monitoring radio scanners to offer real-time updates on active fires.

During this week’s fires, where official warnings may have been faulty or inaccurate, Watch Duty climbed to the top of Apple’s App Store charts. And inside interview on Saturday with The New York TimesCEO John Mills said the app had been downloaded 2 million times as of Tuesday and had 14 million unique users this week.

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

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