WildWatch UK
A real-time wildfire, smoke, and heat-hazard companion for UK outdoor enthusiasts — alerts you when a planned route lies inside an active fire perimeter and suggests safer alternatives.
Hillwalkers, campers, wild-swimmers, and mountain-bikers active in the Cairngorms, Lake District, Snowdonia, and Peak District
- Live wildfire-perimeter map combining NASA FIRMS satellite hotspots with Scottish Fire & Rescue Service and Mountain Rescue incident reports
- 'Route check' that returns an instant smoke and air-quality risk score when you paste a planned Munros walk or campsite
- Push notifications when a new hotspot ignites within 25km of any saved location or planned trip
- Dry-spell and Forestry England/Scotland fire-danger-day index for woodland sites and rally stages
The Cairngorms fire forced Glenmore campsite evacuations and 27-day dry spells across SE England have made UK wildfire exposure a real — not theoretical — risk for hillwalkers, and US tools like Watch Duty barely cover British FIRMS data or Forestry Land Scotland closures.
Cairngorms wildfire near Ryvoan Bothy forced evacuations in 2026 with hillwalkers explicitly urged to avoid the area; multiple major UK fire incidents covered by BBC, Press & Journal, SFRS — real affected user base exists.Wildfire at Cairngorms National Park burning for more than 24 hours - BBC ↗Evacuations as wildfire takes hold in Cairngorms - PressReader ↗
Watch Duty (1M+ downloads) is US-focused nonprofit with limited UK FIRMS integration; HeatMark and FireMap exist globally but no UK-native route-aware competitor surfaces in search results.Watch Duty | Real-Time Disaster Intelligence You Can Trust ↗FireMap: Track Wildfires in Real-Time with NASA & Local Data ↗
OS Maps proves UK hillwalkers pay £35.99/yr for mapping subscriptions, but Watch Duty's free nonprofit model and episodic nature of wildfire season set a low willingness-to-pay ceiling for pure hazard apps.OS Maps app | Digital map app - Ordnance Survey ↗Watch Duty: Wildfire & Floods - Apps on Google Play ↗
UK wildfires increasingly common (2026 Cairngorms 2km blaze, evacuations, multi-day dry spells) and SE England 27-day dry spells signal a structural climate trend rather than a one-off event.Firefighters tackling 2 kilometre wildfire in Cairngorms National Park ↗Cairngorms National Park | All alerts ↗
NASA FIRMS API is free and well-documented, Forestry Land Scotland/SEPA publish closures, and route-perimeter intersection is tractable with PostGIS — MVP buildable in months, not years.FireMap: Track Wildfires in Real-Time with NASA & Local Data ↗