Containment
0%60%100%
Incident · bar = % contained
Active fire edge
Earlier perimeters (growth)
Satellite hotspot
Unmatched heat (possible new fire)
Red flag warning
Fire weather watch

Before you use California Fire Watch

We built this to be as accurate and helpful as we can. But it is a volunteer project that only repackages information published by others, and it is only as correct as its sources.

  • Who runs it. California Fire Watch is operated by Initial Apps LLC, a California limited liability company, and built with volunteers from OC Civic Coders. Contact: [email protected].
  • Unofficial. California Fire Watch is not affiliated with or endorsed by CAL FIRE, the National Weather Service, NASA, NOAA, CHP, Cal OES, any utility, or any other agency.
  • Information, not instructions. Do not use it to decide whether, when, or how to evacuate, and never wait on it to leave. Follow evacuation orders from law enforcement and fire officials, official alerts (AlertOC, Genasys Protect, Wireless Emergency Alerts), and call 911 in an emergency.
  • Data can be late, incomplete, or wrong. Fire perimeters can lag hours behind the fire. Satellite hotspots can be misplaced, missed, or false alarms. Forecasts are estimates. Suggested routes don't know about live traffic, unreported closures, or what the fire is doing right now. Any source can go down without notice.
  • No warranty, no liability. The app and its data are provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Initial Apps LLC, OC Civic Coders, and their members, volunteers, and contributors are not liable for any loss, injury, damage, or decision arising from the use of, or reliance on, this app or its data.
  • Your call, your responsibility. By using California Fire Watch you accept these terms.

Data sources & credits

All data belongs to the organizations below. Thank you for publishing it openly.

Fire incidents
CAL FIRE public incident feed
Fire perimeters
CAL FIRE / Cal OES FIRIS intel-flight perimeters and NIFC WFIGS interagency perimeters
Satellite hotspots
We acknowledge the use of data from NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). VIIRS and MODIS active fire detections.
Red Flag Warnings & Fire Weather Watches
National Weather Service (NOAA)
Wind, temperature & humidity forecasts
Weather data by Open-Meteo.com, licensed CC BY 4.0
Air quality
Open-Meteo Air Quality API, generated using Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) information
Smoke plumes
NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System
Fire Hazard Severity Zones
CAL FIRE Office of the State Fire Marshal
Power shutoffs & outages
Southern California Edison PSPS areas and Cal OES statewide outage data
Fire cameras
ALERTCalifornia, UC San Diego
Road closures & crashes
California Highway Patrol live incident feed
Route planning
Valhalla public server run by FOSSGIS e.V.
Address search
Photon by komoot
Map data & basemap
© OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), © CARTO; satellite imagery © Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics
Readiness guidance
CAL FIRE Ready for Wildfire (Ready, Set, Go!) and the Orange County Fire Authority
Software
MapLibre GL JS, Vite. Source code (MIT license): github.com/occiviccoders/OCFire
Operated by
Initial Apps LLC, built with OC Civic Coders · [email protected]