Quebec Industrial Watch
A neighborhood-scale alert app that notifies Quebec residents within minutes of industrial fires, chemical releases, or smoky incidents, with live air-quality readings and clear shelter-or-evacuate guidance.
Quebec residents living near industrial zones in Quebec City, Montreal, and the South Shore
- Geofenced push alerts within a 5 km radius of any reported industrial incident, sourced from 911 dispatch feeds and verified citizen reports
- Live PM2.5, VOCs, and sulfur-dioxide readings pulled from the nearest government and low-cost sensor stations
- Plain-language guidance that turns AQI numbers into 'open windows,' 'stay indoors,' or 'evacuate' recommendations
- Community reporting layer where neighbors can flag smoke, smell, or visible flames that triggers faster verification
The White Birch paper mill fire mobilized 40+ firefighters and lit up Quebec trending searches, exposing how little residents near major industrial corridors know about an incident until they see smoke — and how little guidance they get on what to do next.
White Birch Quebec City fire mobilized 50+ firefighters and made regional news, but Google Trends for 'feu quebec' shows only general fire interest and Quebec already has free official alerts (Québec En Alerte).Incendie à l'usine de Papiers White Birch de Québec - Noovo Info ↗Home | Québec En Alerte ↗
Québec En Alerte and Alertable cover weather/floods/wildfires/general emergencies but neither focuses on neighborhood-scale industrial chemical releases, shelter-or-evacuate guidance, or live neighborhood air-quality — leaving a niche gap.Alertable - Emergency Alerts ↗Air: Info-Smog - Canada.ca ↗
Direct competitors (Québec En Alerte, Alertable personal tier, Info-Smog) are free government-funded services, and the niche audience (residents near industrial corridors in QC City/Montreal/South Shore) is small — subscription willingness likely low.Alertable Reviews, Prices & Ratings | GetApp Canada 2026 ↗Montréal - Air Quality Health Index - Environment Canada ↗
Industrial incident risk persists (aging Quebec petrochemical/refinery corridors) but White Birch Rivière-du-Loup closure removes one anchor site, and regulatory shifts could either help or make the app redundant if government builds the same thing.La papetière White Birch ferme son usine de Rivière-du-Loup ↗
Build is straightforward: integrate public Québec En Alerte/MELCCFP fire data, scrape Environment Canada AQHI/PurpleAir feeds, geofence industrial zones — all well-documented APIs with no hard ML barriers.Indice de la qualité de l'air - Gouvernement du Québec ↗