Cal Fire reboots website with new features, map

Cal Fire has launched a redesigned website that officials say will provide residents with a more user-friendly structure and up-to-the-minute updates during wildfires.

The rebooted website, fire.ca.gov, launched on March 3 and includes new video content, an improved search engine and a “main incident map” on the homepage, Battalion Chief Issac Sanchez said in a statement.

“The map is where we post all of Cal Fire’s vegetation fires that are burning in the state that are over 10 acres,” said Sanchez. “It’s important so that the public can see what’s going on, where a fire may be in relation to them, and for them to receive any additional information that they need.”

The department will update the map to include acreage, containment and links to find out the latest evacuation orders, officials said. And the website will include footage from wildfire camera feeds to provide users with a real-time view of developing incidents.

The redesign project was launched in 2021 after Cal Fire received feedback about its website that pushed for improvements, officials said. Nearly 70 percent of the visitors to the old site were mobile users, so one of the goals of the redesign was to make the site more mobile-friendly.

Cal Fire officials said the search function on the site has been improved to help residents find recent video footage and photos more easily, Sanchez said. The recruitment page now includes more detailed information about various open positions within the department.

Sanchez said the second phase of the redesign will launch two additional Cal Fire websites and continue the enhancements on the department’s main page.

The battalion chief said Cal Fire’s focus will be on providing real-time incident information with wildfire cameras and additional data layers to the incident map to improve user experience.

“We are excited about these enhancements and tentatively plan to have them completed by the end of 2023, ” Sanchez said.

Cal Fire’s website receives more than 28 million visits a year on average, Sanchez said. The department’s incident map has information on 10 fires that burned nearly 6,000 acres in San Diego County in 2022.