Wildfire Watch BC
A hyperlocal wildfire companion for British Columbia residents that pushes BCWS fire perimeter updates, smoke forecasts, and evacuation-order changes for the specific area a user cares about.
British Columbia residents who live in or near the wildland-urban interface and want a single trusted source for fire status
- Map of active fires with perimeters from BCWS, refreshed within minutes of a new update
- Custom 'home radius' alert that notifies the user when a new fire starts within 10, 25, or 50 km of their address
- Hourly smoke and PM2.5 forecast for the user's location with 'close windows tonight' guidance
- Evacuation order and alert feed from regional districts with one-tap sharing to family group chats
Kamloops just had a 20-hectare human-caused landscape fire with rising winds and hot, dry conditions, and BCWS is babysitting hot spots; BC residents are searching for live fire information right now.
BC Wildfire Service has an official free app and Voyent Alert is the official emergency alert system used by Kamloops — high active demand is confirmed by Google Trends 'kamloops fire' surges and third-party apps already serving BC.Web and Mobile App Reference Guide - Province of British Columbia ↗Emergency Alert Notifications | City of Kamloops ↗
Crowded by the official BCWS app, Voyent Alert (used by Kamloops), WildFire-Ready, FireSmoke.ca, and SmokeWx — direct hyperlocal-aggregator niche is largely taken by government and a well-funded third party.BC Wildfire Service - Apps on Google Play ↗Kamloops Wildfire Map & Tracker: Live Fires & Smoke | WildFire-Ready ↗
Core data (BCWS perimeters, evacuation orders via Voyent Alert, smoke forecasts via FireSmoke.ca) is already free from authoritative sources, leaving little willingness to pay for a re-aggregator among cost-sensitive BC residents.Emergency Alert Notifications | City of Kamloops ↗Home - FireSmoke.ca ↗
Climate-driven worsening of BC fire seasons (longer, hotter, more frequent) supports multi-year relevance, though demand is strongly seasonal (May–October).Wildfire Service - Province of British Columbia ↗
Building on publicly available BCWS, Voyent Alert, and BlueSky/FireSmoke data feeds with standard push notifications is straightforward — no AI or proprietary data needed.BC Wildfire Service ↗