Informational use only. Firewatch is not an emergency service and is not an official source of evacuation orders. In an emergency call your local emergency number (911 in the US, 112 in Europe). Always follow the instructions of local authorities and civil protection.
Weather data becomes medical-grade risk intelligence.
Every weather feed can tell you it's 39° and windy. Firewatch compounds those same signals into a categorical Fire Weather Index and the exact actions to take — authored and verified by wilderness-medicine physicians, delivered through the GOES CORE API. Additive to your data. Impossible to fake without the medical backing.
Your signals in. Risk intelligence and guidance out.
Temperature, humidity, wind, precipitation, air quality — the feeds a weather platform already has.
Compounded against medically-validated thresholds into a categorical Fire Weather Index and severity — with an audit trail.
The exact steps to take, written and verified by wilderness-medicine physicians. Engaging, useful, defensible.
What a weather feed can't do alone
39°C · RH 14% · wind 45 km/h · no rain 24 days
Accurate signals. But it doesn't tell a person what it means or what to do — and a weather brand can't issue medical guidance.
Extreme fire danger (FWI 62).
Suspend hot works 12:00–20:00. N95 downwind. Stage water at any worksite bordering brush.
Reviewed by wilderness-medicine physicians · audit trail included.
See it running
United States
· 2Spain
· 3Worst U.S. air quality right now
Live US AQI across major and wildfire-prone U.S. metros — the five worst at this moment. Air quality shifts through the day as smoke and heat move, so this ranking updates every time the page loads.
Live US AQI from Open-Meteo, ranked worst-first across a monitored set of major and pollution-prone U.S. metros — fetched in your browser, informational only, not an official air-quality alert.
Guidance a weather brand can't credibly write
The moat isn't the data — it's the medical authority and audit trail behind every recommendation.
Wildfire smoke and your health
Wildfire smoke carries particulates up to 30× smaller than a strand of hair — fine enough to reach deep into the lungs and set off respiratory illness. Here’s a taste of the physician-authored guidance the GOES app delivers offline, the moment smoke moves in.
Smoke irritates first, then strains the lungs. Know the line between the two.
- Watery, itchy eyes
- Coughing and sneezing
- Runny nose
- Exhaustion or shortness of breath
- Wheezing, or high-pitched noise breathing in (stridor)
- An asthma attack that doesn’t respond to an inhaler
If a fire is near, evacuation comes first — getting out of the smoke matters more than anything below.
- Stay indoors with windows and doors closed.
- Filter indoor air if you can; recirculate, don’t draw outside air.
- Wear a well-fitted N95/FFP2 if you must be outside.
- Sensitive groups — asthma, heart or lung conditions, children, older adults — take extra care.
Most exposure is mild and self-manageable. Severe symptoms are a medical emergency.
- Warm drinks and honey to soothe the airway
- An antihistamine can ease irritation
- Seek medical care immediately — call your local emergency number (911 in the US, 112 in Europe)
Hundreds of physician-authored medical protocols — heat illness, smoke, altitude, snakebite and more — with step-by-step guidance that works fully offline.
General information from GOES emergency-medicine content — not a substitute for professional medical care or emergency services. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.
Your data. Our medical intelligence. One API.
Give your users what a weather feed can't: medically-validated risk and the exact actions to take, authored by physicians and delivered through the GOES CORE API.
Firewatch is not an official emergency source and does not provide authoritative fire-incident, evacuation, or shelter information. For that, consult your national and regional wildfire and civil-protection authorities — for example CAL FIRE and county emergency services in California, the Montana DNRC and InciWeb in Montana, or AEMET, Protección Civil, and INFOCAM in Spain — and your local emergency number.
Data is provided "as is" and may be delayed, incomplete, or inaccurate. It must not be relied upon for life-safety, evacuation, or operational decisions. GOES disclaims liability to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Guidance shown here is general information, not medical advice, and is not a substitute for professional medical care or emergency services.
The Fire Weather Index is computed using the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System (Van Wagner, 1987) from Open-Meteo weather data. Current conditions and air quality are from Open-Meteo. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.