Watch Duty was downloaded 2 million times during the LA fire this week

The Watch Duty fire tracking program has become an important source of information for Los Angeles residents threatened by the ongoing wildfires.

Like TechCrunch’s Maxwell Zeff explainedThe program relies on a team of active and retired firefighters, first responders, government reporters, and volunteer reporters who man radio cameras to provide real-time updates on wildfires.

During this week’s firestorm, when official announcements can be critical or inaccurate, Watch Duty has soared to the top of Apple’s App Store charts. And in interview Saturday with the New York TimesCEO John Mills said the app had been downloaded 2 million times as of Tuesday and saw 14 million unique users this week.

Mills said the program is run by a non-profit organization supported by donations, which has 15 full-time employees and 200 employees. He insisted that Watch Duty collects personal information about users and that they have no intention of selling it.

“I owe it to the people of my community not to be an unfortunate capitalist,” he said.