Dawson Creek developer creates wildfire-ready app

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — One Dawson Creek developer is using his experience from the 2022 and 2023 wildfire seasons to help residents become more prepared.

Jeff Parr was born and raised in Dawson Creek and is now the founder of Wildfire-Ready, a free wildfire information app for B.C. and Alberta. 

As a teenager, Parr said he was very interested in website and software development, but being from Dawson Creek, the oil patch “sucked me up at an early age.” 

Parr said he worked in the oilfield for 15 years before switching to work in software development.  

“It was a great job, great money and everything,” Parr said. “It’s just you’re never close to home too much… I’ve got two kids, so I decided to make a change in life and get back to what I really enjoy.”

According to Parr, the Wildfire-Ready app began as a passion project before transforming into something bigger. 

“I started to think about the wildfire app, and then I developed that,” he said. “It started as just a passion project to kind of just fool around with and whatnot. I realized that it’s actually something that everyone needs. 

Parr said his family has been affected by wildfires before.

“My family, we’ve had land in northern B.C. my whole life, and fires have been an issue for us as long as I can remember,” said Parr. “It was either we’re there fighting fires, we were helping other locals fight fires, or if it wasn’t that, everyone was worried about the fire season and how dry it was.” 

According to Parr, he has seen lots of fires break out during his 15 years in the oilfield.

“These last few fire seasons hit B.C, knowing it’s only going to get worse, I decided to just build something that’s maybe going to help people be a little more proactive and possibly prevent some fires and help people be more prepared,” he said.  

Parr explained how the app can help users protect property.

“You can actually pin your home, your parents” place, say you’ve got a cabin out of town or a hunting spot, you’d like to keep a closer eye on, you can set actual pins on those locations,” said Parr. “If there’s a fire or a hot spot, or even a change in air quality from smoke, it’ll alert you so you can be more prepared.” 

Parr said the app is designed to work alongside resources like 9-1-1, rather than replace them.

“If there’s ever an emergency, always call 9-1-1,” said Parr. “The app gives you a clearer picture of what’s happening around you, so you can just make smarter decisions a little earlier.” 

Parr also said the app uses data from services like the BC Wildfire Service, Alberta Wildfire, NASA, and DriveBC

“It’s an addition, really,” said Parr. “The B.C. wildfire service site is the source of the truth… the app is never trying to replace them, it’s making their data easier to access on a phone, alongside with Alberta wildfire, NASA, Drive BC and others with personal alerts for the locations you care about. It’s all the same data, it’s just organized specifically for residents to access easily.” 

Parr said the app also features a number of surveys people can fill out to help them become better prepared for a wildfire. 

“There’s a home ignition zone survey, there’s a home and property survey, there’s an emergency kit [how to build a go bag] survey, there’s all those things how to build the right plans to evacuate our home.”

According to Parr, the app also has a survey on how to properly release livestock during a wildfire. 

Parr said the app will be available on the IOS and Android app stores in the next two weeks.