How we built Watch Duty, the lifesaving wildfire alert app | John Mills

How we built Watch Duty, the lifesaving wildfire alert app | John Mills

From TED Tech by TED Tech

February 20, 2026 · 11 min

About this episode

John Mills shares the story of creating Watch Duty, a nonprofit emergency alert system for wildfires.

After finding himself alone in an unreported wildfire in the woodlands of California, John Mills decided to take matters into his own hands. Hear the incredible story of how he rallied fire survivors and retired first responders to create Watch Duty, the nonprofit emergency alert system that’s beating official government warnings and buying people precious minutes to escape danger. Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at  attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: TED Tech

Guest: John Mills

Topics covered

  • wildfire
  • emergency alert system
  • nonprofit
  • technology
  • survival
  • community

Keywords

  • wildfire alert
  • Watch Duty
  • emergency system
  • California
  • survivors
  • first responders
  • nonprofit

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Watch Duty

Places: California

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