Google.org Fellowship Helps Watch Duty Deliver Critical Fire Info Faster

Google Engineers embed with Watch Duty to build AI systems that scale rapid fire intelligence during emergencies

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, April 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SAN FRANCISCO, CA, April 22, 2026 – Wildfires are growing faster, more complex, and more destructive. The ability to detect and communicate critical information in seconds rather than minutes has become a life-safety issue for communities and first responders. Today, Google.org announced it is deploying a Google.org Fellowship to support Watch Duty, embedding Google engineers within the organization to help build AI infrastructure that accelerates emergency alerts at scale.

Through the Google.org Fellowship, Google engineers will work directly alongside Watch Duty’s team to develop AI systems that monitor live emergency radio traffic, surface critical signals faster, and support - not replace - human decision-making, ensuring our team can assess and verify information more efficiently while reducing the time it takes to alert the public during wildfires.

“Speed matters in emergencies,” said John Mills, CEO and co-founder of Watch Duty. “We’ve built a nonprofit that leverages the best talent and infrastructure in service of communities. The Google.org Fellowship will accelerate this work using Google Gemini so that life-saving information reaches people faster.”

Fire radio traffic frequently carries the earliest indications of new ignitions, evacuation orders, and changes in fire behavior, but it is fragmented across thousands of analog channels and difficult to scale through human monitoring alone. Watch Duty’s trained reporters currently listen live to hundreds of publicly available radio streams, often switching between dozens of open emergency response channels during a single incident. In Los Angeles County alone, a major wildfire can require monitoring more than 20 radio frequencies at once. 

To address this bottleneck, the Google.org Fellowship is helping Watch Duty to:

• Build an AI-powered tool that automatically listens to and transcribes wildland fire radio traffic.
• Create smart tools that understand firefighter terminology to help spot new fires and critical updates quickly 
• Set up the technology needed to process thousands of noisy wildfire radio channels at the same time, allowing for significantly greater area coverage.
• Help Watch Duty process crucial early-warning information faster, significantly accelerating the detection of new incidents to keep communities and first responders safe.

“Watch Duty represents the best of what technology can do when driven by purpose,” said Brian Juhyuk Lee, Sustainability Giving Lead at Google.org. “It’s a privilege to support the Watch Duty mission and team — whether that means answering a call in the middle of the night or deploying our top engineers to help solve complex AI challenges. We’re proud to support their mission to democratize access to vital information.”

The Google.org Fellowship builds on broader, multi-year support for Watch Duty, grounded in shared concern about urgency, speed, and operational reliability during crises.

In 2024, Google.org provided Watch Duty with multi-year $2 million funding, combining funding with pro bono technical and capacity support to help the organization scale nationally. Watch Duty also operates across Google’s technology ecosystem, using tools such as Google Workspace, Firebase, and Google Gemini to support its engineering, data processing, and internal collaboration as demand continues to grow. Gemini also helps the Watch Duty team quickly parse Public Information Officer (PIO) updates across formats like email and PDFs, and supports image filtering for user-submitted photos, prioritizing those that contain relevant signals such as smoke or fire. Watch Duty is part of the AI Collaborative: Wildfires, facilitated by Google.org, a cross-sector initiative bringing together leading nonprofits, academic institutions, government agencies and companies to help people and communities better manage fires by using AI.

Google’s support proved critical during the Los Angeles wildfires in 2025, when Watch Duty experienced unprecedented demand as millions of people relied on the platform for real-time updates. As conditions evolved rapidly and system load surged, Google’s Firebase team provided technical assistance to Watch Duty in response to the exponential use of their product and services, enabling Watch Duty to remain online, stable, and responsive throughout peak usage.

About Watch Duty

Watch Duty is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that provides real-time wildfire information for making informed decisions when seconds count. Powered by a network of trained volunteers who monitor radio scanners and official sources 24/7, Watch Duty delivers verified alerts faster than any other service. The app is free to download on the App Store and Google Play.

About Google.org

Google.org’s mission is to unlock the potential for everyone, everywhere. Beyond traditional philanthropy, we apply Google’s innovation, research, and resources to promote progress and expand opportunity for everyone.

Attachments

• Watch Duty announces Google.org fellowship
• Watch Duty provides real-time wildfire information

Liz Caselli-Mechael
Watch Duty
724-506-2996
liz@watchduty.org

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