Fire Watch Privacy Policy
Fire Watch and Alerts ("Fire Watch", "the app") is provided by Kindle Products and Services Limited Liability Company ("we", "us"). This policy explains what the app collects, why, who else handles it, and how it is deleted. Fire Watch has no accounts, no ads, and we do not sell your data.
What we collect
- Home location and alert settings. The coordinates of the place you choose to monitor, your alert radius, which alert types you want, and a place label for weather. Stored on our server so we can warn you about fires near home.
- Current location, on your device. Used to show nearby fires and evacuation routes. It is not sent to our servers except as described below.
- Background location (optional, off by default). If you turn on "Take Fire Watch with you", the app reads your phone's last-known location about every 15 minutes, even when the app is closed or not in use, and sends it to our server so we can alert you about fires near where you are and ask you to help confirm nearby reports. It never runs continuous GPS. You can turn it off at any time in the app (Settings and Privacy) or in your phone's settings.
- Fire reports and "do you see it?" answers. The location of a fire you report or answer about (for "Spot a fire", an estimate from your position, compass heading and zoom), the time, and your push token so that one person counts as one vote. The photo you take with "Spot a fire" is analyzed on your phone and is not uploaded.
- Cameras you register (optional). The camera's name, location, direction and snapshot web address. Our server fetches the snapshot, checks it for fire, and discards it. If you use Fire Cam, your phone uploads about one frame per minute, which is checked and discarded. We never store camera images. Please don't put passwords in a camera web address; if you do, it is stored with the camera until it is deleted.
- Technical data. A push-notification token, an anonymous user ID created automatically (no name or email), crash reports, and basic usage analytics such as screen views, collected through Google Firebase. We do not collect your name, email address, contacts, or payment information, and we do not use the advertising ID.
How we use it
Only to run the app: to send wildfire alerts and the daily fire-risk summary, place and verify fire reports, check camera snapshots for fire, keep the service secure, and find and fix crashes. We do not sell your data, share it for advertising, or build advertising profiles.
Who else handles it
- Google Firebase (Cloud Functions, Firestore, Cloud Messaging, Authentication, App Check, Analytics, Crashlytics) runs our backend and acts as our service provider.
- Weather, map and fire data providers. To show weather, maps and fire data, the app sends coordinates or a typed address to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (met.no), Open-Meteo, Visual Crossing, OpenStreetMap (map tiles and address search), NASA FIRMS, and Esri ArcGIS. They receive only what they need to answer the request.
- Navigation. If you tap an evacuation route, your phone opens Google Maps or Apple Maps with the destination you chose.
Automatic deletion when you uninstall
An app cannot run code at the moment it is removed, so our servers find out from the push-notification system: once your phone's push token stops being valid, we remove everything we hold for that installation:
- your device record (home location, alert settings, last-known location, push token),
- any cameras you registered and the detections made from them,
- the fire reports and answers you submitted, and any photo attached to them,
- the anonymous user ID created for you.
This runs automatically every day, so deletion usually happens within a day or two of uninstalling. It can take longer if your phone stays offline, because the push system only learns of the uninstall when the phone reconnects. A device record that has not been refreshed for 300 days is deleted regardless. If you reinstall the app, you start fresh with a new anonymous ID.
Other retention
| Data | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Fire reports and answers (location and push token) | Deleted automatically after 24 hours. They only count toward alerts for 6 hours. |
| Device record while the app is installed | Kept so you keep getting alerts. Changing your home or settings in the app updates it. |
| Camera snapshots and Fire Cam frames | Never stored. |
| Crash reports and usage analytics | Held by Google Firebase under its own retention limits. They are tied to an anonymous ID, not your name, and are not deleted by our uninstall cleanup. |
Your choices and requests
- Background location, Fire Cam, cameras, and each alert type are optional and can be turned off in the app.
- To have your data deleted right away instead of waiting for the automatic cleanup, or to ask what we hold about you, email firewatchandalerts@gmail.com. We'll respond within 30 days. We may need to know your home area to find your record, since there are no accounts.
- We do not sell or share personal information for advertising.
Security
Data is sent over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Access to our database is limited to our backend, and requests from the app are verified with Firebase App Check.
Children
Fire Watch is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their data.
Changes
If we change this policy, we will update the date above, and for material changes we will tell you in the app.
Contact
Kindle Products and Services Limited Liability Company
firewatchandalerts@gmail.com