Watch Duty was downloaded 2 million times during the Los Angeles fires this week

The fire tracking app Watch Duty has become an important source of information for Los Angeles residents threatened by ongoing wildfires.

like TechCrunch’s Maxwell Ziff explainedThe app relies on a network of active and retired firefighters, first responders, official government reports, and volunteer reporters who monitor wireless scanners to provide real-time updates on active wildfires.

During this week’s fires, where official alerts may have been buggy or inaccurate, Watch Duty rose to the top of Apple’s App Store charts. And in Saturday interview with the New York TimesCEO John Mills said the app has been downloaded 2 million times since Tuesday and saw 14 million unique users this week.

The app is run by a nonprofit that is funded primarily through donations, and has 15 full-time employees and 200 employees, Mills said. He insisted that Watch Duty collects very little personal data on users and that he has no intention of selling.

“I owe it to my community not to be a disaster capitalist,” he said.