There's an app to track wildfires in real-time in Marseille countryside

Fire Chaser allows users to report these calamities

Last summer, a new app became available to residents of the Bouches-du-Rhône department in France, which lets them join in the fight against wildfires by reporting these calamities online when they encounter them. The name of the app is Fire Chaser, and it was launched in August 2023.

The Department of Bouches-du-Rhône contains the second largest city in France, Marseille, and its adjacent rural countryside. Being located on the Mediterranean Sea, it’s a region that enjoys plentiful sunshine year-round but also a heightened risk of wildfires.

The next step is to also include municipalities

The way it works is rather straightforward. When they see a fire developing, users can report and geolocate it on their app by sharing photos of it and any additional information. The information shared is reviewed by administrators before being finally shared.

The other benefit of the app is that it alerts residents of a fire burning in their vicinity. They can track its progress through the app in real time. There are three colour codes for the status of the wildfire: red for “in progress”, blue for “controlled” and grey for “terminated”.

“Because of climate change, fires are spreading more quickly and intensely," says Raphaël Supplisson, president of the Fire Chaser association, quoted by Made in Marseille. "We can't put fire trucks behind every house. The population must learn to protect themselves by knowing the fire prevention steps.”

Since the feature was introduced, more than 60 forest fires have been reported on the platform, the only one of its kind in France. The application recently exceeded 10,000 downloads and has more than 6,000 active users.

The app developers will seek to upgrade the app in a way that it becomes usable to officials, such as public authorities, municipalities and crisis centres.