An entrepreneur based in northern British Columbia has launched a free app in response to rising wildfires in Canada.
Jeff Parr, a former oil sector employee and self-taught coder, says WildFire Ready keeps users informed by pulling live data from official feeds and displaying it on a single map.
This includes active wildfires as tracked by organizations like BC Wildfire Service and Alberta Wildfire, featuring information such as the suspected cause, estimated size, control status, and even fire perimeters when the data is available.
The WildFire Ready platform—which Parr describes as a “passion project that turned into a mission”—also shows satellite hotspots as detected by NASA, as well as Air Quality Health Index readings from Environment and Climate Change Canada monitoring stations.
WildFire is a member of the BC Tech Association.
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The map displays closures and major incidents as noted by DriveBC and 511 Alberta, plus evacuation alerts and orders published by provincial emergency management such as EmergencyInfoBC, Alberta Emergency, and Alert Ready.
Beyond data feeds, other features of the WildFire platform include smart push notifications for specific alerts, different visual themes, saved locations for quick access, and AI-powered summaries of what’s going on in a particular region. Users can also access information around campfire and open-burning categories, fire bans, and advisories.
Currently, WildFire Ready covers the provinces of BC and Alberta only.
“We would rather cover two provinces well than ten provinces poorly,” the startup states online, noting that “adjacent regions” such as Yukon and Saskatchewan “will be added as funding permits.”
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