WatchDuty volunteers have been monitoring and sharing updates today on the Nob Fire, on the north side of the San Bernardino Mountains. As screenshots and the link demonstrate, the ability of volunteers to monitor scanners and AlertCalifornia cameras also provide an additional set of eyes for ongoing fires and fire aviation operations.
As noted by the volunteer monitors, the aviation resources were being released and fire activity moderating after a day of significant air support. The Nob Fire is being reported at from 130-175 acres and some news reports are calling it the first wildfire of the season for Southern California.
By the way, if you’re looking to share some time, WatchDuty is looking for volunteers. We recently received a note from the WatchDuty administrators, who are seeking additional staffers to support current operations and a planned expansion. As their outreach points out …
WatchDuty is calling volunteers, we’re expanding outside of California! We’ve already begun onboarding radio scanners and reporters from Oregon, Washington, and Nevada but we still need more to cover the entire American West.
As a non-profit organization we rely on volunteers for everything from reporters to software engineering; 60 to be exact. The most critical to our expansion are radio scanners who listen to first responder radio communications and report on the fire as it happens. If this sounds like you or someone you know please send them to our volunteer page at watchduty.org/volunteer.
Or if your skills lay elsewhere such as legal services or software engineering we could really use your help.
All of our software and systems are built to help support our radio scanners and reporters so they can hear everything and never miss a radio transmission.
Please refer to our volunteer job board at watchduty.org/volunteer for more information about volunteering and please share this with anyone you think would be a fit.
