Chief Technology Officer
Founder
During last year’s massive wildfires in Los Angeles, concerned residents and firefighters went to one app to get up to date information: Watch Duty. Now, the app covers all 50 states and recently added flood tracking to its repertoire. Watch Duty’s chief technology officer David Merritt joined Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino to talk about how the app is scaling up.
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. (Following Mills talk at TED Next 2025, he sat down for a special conversation with Elise Hu, host of TED Talks Daily. They discuss why citizen-owned tech is outpacing government response systems, how Mills builds trust by delaying alerts to verify sources, and their plans to expand the app to report on other natural disasters as well, such as tornados and floods.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.