Ring and Watch Duty Partner Up to Give Users a Closer Eye on Wildfires
In an effort to help people stay informed about nearby wildfires, Ring has teamed up with Watch Duty, the nonprofit wildfire tracking app. The collaboration will enable users to share videos from their Ring doorbell cameras on the Watch Duty platform, providing real-time updates and situational awareness in emergency situations.
The partnership aims to leverage the power of user-generated footage to aid in fire detection and response efforts. When a wildfire is detected in an area, users will receive alerts and be given the option to share live video feeds from their Ring cameras with the Watch Duty community.
"Ring videos are yet another potentially useful data stream," says John Mills, CEO of Watch Duty. "If it's one person's house burning down, we're not going to show that to the world. But if we see a whole entire block going up in fire, we're going to publish that. If we watch ember brands flying down the street, we want to show that to civilians and especially first responders."
The feature is part of Watch Duty's Fire Watch initiative, which already offers AI-powered smoke and fire detection for Ring Home subscribers. The new partnership is designed to provide users with real-time information about nearby wildfires, helping them stay safe and informed during emergency situations.
Watch Duty's platform currently aggregates wildfire data from official sources, but this latest collaboration marks a significant step towards crowdsourcing user-generated footage. According to Jamie Siminoff, the founder of Ring, more than 10,000 Ring cameras were in the area of the Palisades fires in Los Angeles last year, which leveled entire neighborhoods and caused billions of dollars in damage.
Siminoff believes that if these cameras had been utilized to help residents and first responders have a better view of where the fires were, it could have made a big difference. The new partnership is an effort to make things better and minimize the impact of wildfires on communities.
"Ring's data-sharing practices have raised concerns about user privacy," notes Mills, who emphasizes that there are no auto-approval mechanisms on Watch Duty and that human review is always involved. The organization is committed to transparency and accountability in its wildfire tracking efforts.
As the fight against wildfires continues to grow in intensity, collaborations like this one between Ring and Watch Duty offer a promising solution for improving situational awareness and emergency response. By harnessing the power of user-generated footage, these organizations can provide critical information that helps keep people safe during times of crisis.
In an effort to help people stay informed about nearby wildfires, Ring has teamed up with Watch Duty, the nonprofit wildfire tracking app. The collaboration will enable users to share videos from their Ring doorbell cameras on the Watch Duty platform, providing real-time updates and situational awareness in emergency situations.
The partnership aims to leverage the power of user-generated footage to aid in fire detection and response efforts. When a wildfire is detected in an area, users will receive alerts and be given the option to share live video feeds from their Ring cameras with the Watch Duty community.
"Ring videos are yet another potentially useful data stream," says John Mills, CEO of Watch Duty. "If it's one person's house burning down, we're not going to show that to the world. But if we see a whole entire block going up in fire, we're going to publish that. If we watch ember brands flying down the street, we want to show that to civilians and especially first responders."
The feature is part of Watch Duty's Fire Watch initiative, which already offers AI-powered smoke and fire detection for Ring Home subscribers. The new partnership is designed to provide users with real-time information about nearby wildfires, helping them stay safe and informed during emergency situations.
Watch Duty's platform currently aggregates wildfire data from official sources, but this latest collaboration marks a significant step towards crowdsourcing user-generated footage. According to Jamie Siminoff, the founder of Ring, more than 10,000 Ring cameras were in the area of the Palisades fires in Los Angeles last year, which leveled entire neighborhoods and caused billions of dollars in damage.
Siminoff believes that if these cameras had been utilized to help residents and first responders have a better view of where the fires were, it could have made a big difference. The new partnership is an effort to make things better and minimize the impact of wildfires on communities.
"Ring's data-sharing practices have raised concerns about user privacy," notes Mills, who emphasizes that there are no auto-approval mechanisms on Watch Duty and that human review is always involved. The organization is committed to transparency and accountability in its wildfire tracking efforts.
As the fight against wildfires continues to grow in intensity, collaborations like this one between Ring and Watch Duty offer a promising solution for improving situational awareness and emergency response. By harnessing the power of user-generated footage, these organizations can provide critical information that helps keep people safe during times of crisis.
imagine having real-time footage from your own doorbell cam to share with the community - it's gonna make such a difference 
I mean, we've all seen videos of fires spreading fast on social media... can you imagine being able to show those embers flying down the street? It's like, whoa 
and yeah, the fire safety aspect is major 
but also the fact that they're making sure there are no auto approvals means we got some transparency here 
This is so cool! Can you imagine having those doorbell cameras helping spot wildfires from your own neighborhood? It's like having an extra set of eyes to help first responders and keep us all safer. I'm glad Ring and Watch Duty are teaming up to make this happen... it just makes sense to use all that footage we're already capturing to help in emergencies 
. But seriously, having all that footage from Ring cameras can really make a difference in emergency situations. It's like watching a whole different level of clarity on those old grainy VHS tapes we used to record our favorite shows 
. I'm glad Watch Duty is taking steps to use this data for good and minimize the impact of wildfires on communities... it's like how we all came together after 9/11 to support each other and rebuild 
. Let's just hope these tech companies keep that user privacy thing under control 
This partnership between Ring and Watch Duty is actually kinda cool 
. The way they're leveraging user-generated footage to aid in fire detection and response efforts is genius 
. And it's good to see that there are measures in place to protect user privacy, even though it's not perfect 
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... what could possibly go wrong? And what's the guarantee that these cameras aren't being tampered with or hacked into? 
. What if someone shares a video of their neighbor's house on fire by accident? Do they get "punished" or something?
I'm loving this collab between Ring and Watch Duty! They're using vids from doorbell cams to give ppl real-time info on wildfires 
The fact that they're sharing vids only when the fire is spreading 
Can't wait to see more of this kind of collab!
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. We can always talk about data sharing practices later... but for now, let's just appreciate their effort to keep our communities safe 
I gotta say, it's kinda crazy how tech companies are teaming up to help us stay safe in emergencies. Like, I was living in LA last year and those Palisades fires were insane 
. If only we had more people sharing footage from their Ring cameras, who knows what could've been done to stop the spread of the fire? 
. The fact that Ring is teaming up with Watch Duty to help share videos from their doorbell cameras is such a huge step forward 
. If those Ring cameras had been able to help first responders and residents see where the fires were going, it could have made all the difference 
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. It's so inspiring to see! 
According to the data, there were over 10k Ring cameras at the Palisades fires last year... that's insane! 
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That's some serious tech right there!
. The fact that Ring and Watch Duty are teaming up to share videos from doorbell cameras is genius 
And I'm glad they're being transparent about user privacy too 
. but im still worried about user privacy 
gotta be careful not to share too much info without people's consent 
. I wish more companies would join forces like this to make a real difference 
. It's all about keeping people safe and informed during emergency situations