A Free Wildfire Tracking App (Watch Duty Alternative)
Looking for a Watch Duty Alternative?
Fireloop tracks nearby wildfires with official data and real-time community sightings — completely free, no subscription.
Fireloop: Real-Time Wildfire Tracking, Built on Community Reports
If you’re searching for a wildfire tracking app, you’ve probably come across Watch Duty — a well-known nonprofit app that uses volunteer reporters to vet wildfire information. Fireloop takes a different approach: official fire data combined directly with real-time sightings and photos from people near the fire, free for everyone.
How Fireloop Works
Fireloop pulls official wildfire data directly from government sources like NIFC and InciWeb, so you always have an accurate baseline of active fires, perimeters, and status. On top of that, anyone nearby can post a sighting — a photo, a short update, a report on conditions — giving you a second, real-time layer of what’s actually happening on the ground.
Official Fire Data
Active fire perimeters, containment status, and incident details sourced from government wildfire databases.
Community Sightings
Real-time photos and reports from people near a fire. See what others are seeing, post your own update, and follow the conversation through comments.
Air Quality
Check current air quality readings near any fire or saved location, so you know when smoke is becoming a health concern.
Location-Based Alerts
Get notified the moment a new fire is reported near you or near a location you’ve saved — home, work, family.
Save the Places That Matter
Track multiple locations at once, each with its own notification settings.
Free, No Subscription
Fireloop is completely free to use — no membership, no paywalled features.
Fireloop vs. Watch Duty: What’s Different
Watch Duty is a respected nonprofit that relies on a network of volunteer reporters — many of them current or former firefighters and dispatchers — who monitor radio traffic and vet incoming information before it’s published. It’s a strong model, and Watch Duty has grown into one of the most widely used tools during major fire events.
Fireloop takes a more direct, community-driven approach: official data forms the foundation, and reports come straight from people near the fire in real time, without a vetting layer in between. That means information can appear faster, but it also means you’re seeing raw, unverified community reports alongside the official data — worth keeping in mind as you decide which approach fits how you want to stay informed.
Both tools are free to download, and there’s no reason you can’t run both — many people facing wildfire risk use more than one source to stay informed.
Download Fireloop
Fireloop is available on iOS and Android. App Store · Google Play