Palisades Fire disaster pushes Ring to close critical gaps in emergency visibility
A year after deadly fires ripped through the Pacific Palisades in California, Ring has launched a new safety feature called Fire Watch to help communities and first responders get real-time, on-the-ground information during active fires.
The new feature, inside the "Neighbors" section of the Ring app, was built in collaboration with the nonprofit Watch Duty. It allows users to opt in during emergency situations and share insights with first responders so they can see what's happening on the ground.
Ring's founder and CEO, Jamie Siminoff, told Fox News Digital he lived in the area for 18 years — and that his company started in the garage of his former home, which was destroyed in the fire.
"I spent a lot of time [in that garage] and [it] ended up becoming something of an important brand … and [an] impact [on] the world came out of that garage," he said.
"It was definitely very sad to see it burned out. I'm proud [of taking] the pain from that moment to try to create something. I think what the garage stood for was invention — and trying to build something now that, hopefully, in the future, will stop."
Siminoff said he spent several days in the Palisades during the fires trying to help sort out everything in his neighborhood, sharing that there was a "fog of war and information."
"It was really hard to get up-to-date, up-to-minute information," he said.
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From churches and schools to grocery stores and restaurants, an entire town was wiped out in days.
More than 23,000 acres burned, and roughly 6,800 buildings were destroyed, according to Cal Fire.
Ring had over 10,000 cameras in that area when the fires occurred.
Siminoff said Ring had eyes on the fire to see where it was jumping.
"I think if you had better information to deploy the resources more efficiently, certainly that would help," he said.
If a fire is taking place, an alert will be sent to users asking if they want to opt into the program and help build a map with artificial intelligence to detect embers, smoke and fire to see where it's going.
"As embers are flying around, those new little spot fires are coming. We can get them, get to them quicker. Put them out faster, which, again — the idea [is] that you have a better outcome by using resources better," said Siminoff.
He said that if the system was running during the Palisades Fires, it could have possibly saved a few structures and homes, and maybe a few lives as well.
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It took firefighters 24 days to fully contain the fire that claimed 12 lives.
"I do think when things happen in a neighborhood, people do want to come together. And giving them that choice to opt in at that time — it's exactly what we are doing," he added.
Fox News Digital’s Nora Moriarty contributed reporting.