EcoQuest Foundation is proud to share our submission to the Congressional App Challenge: Wildfire Watch, a real-time wildfire monitoring application designed to keep communities informed and safe. The Congressional App Challenge is the most prestigious student software competition in the United States, hosted by members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and we were excited to put our technical skills to work on a problem that directly impacts communities across California and beyond.
Wildfire Watch provides users with live wildfire tracking powered by satellite and sensor data, giving real-time updates on active fires, air quality indices, and evacuation zones. The app also surfaces environmental impact data, showing how wildfires affect local ecosystems, water quality, and biodiversity. For residents in fire-prone areas, the community safety features deliver push notifications with evacuation routes, shelter locations, and emergency contact information. Our goal was to build a tool that not only informs but empowers people to take action when it matters most.
We built Wildfire Watch using React for the frontend interface and Microsoft Azure for our cloud infrastructure, including data processing and real-time notifications. The development process taught our team valuable lessons about working with geospatial data, integrating multiple public APIs, and designing for accessibility under high-stress scenarios. Submitting to the Congressional App Challenge was an incredible experience that pushed us to think critically about how technology can address real environmental threats facing our communities.