For fire professionals & agency partners

A citizen sensor network

I SEE SMOKE turns residents and visitors into a distributed early-warning layer for the Tahoe/Truckee Wildland-Urban Interface — and hands the resulting signal to the people fighting fire on the ground.

What this site is

A mobile-first, no-account smoke reporting tool for the Lake Tahoe basin. In three taps a citizen files a directional report — bearing, estimated distance, severity, and a required photo — and it appears on a public live map alongside ALERTCalifornia camera feeds and EPA AirNow stations from Tahoe through Reno and Carson City.

Why it exists

Official perimeters and satellite hotspots can lag by hours. Cell towers congest the moment something goes wrong. The first useful signal in a Tahoe ignition is almost always a human on a ridge saying “I see a column over there.” We built I SEE SMOKE so that signal is captured, geo-anchored, and shared in seconds instead of group texts.

How it helps the boots on the ground

Designed as a one-way consumer tool, not a dispatch platform. Every report is clearly labeled as an unverified citizen observation — never confused with an official agency update.

Pre-ignition awareness. Multiple sightings from different angles help locate a smoke column before agencies send crews.
Pre-positioning. Pattern analysis on Red Flag days highlights the micro-corridors where wind is consistently funneling — strike teams stage closer, response times compress.
Public smoke map during planned burns. The live map gives residents and land managers the same ground-level signal, which can reduce duplicate calls and social-media speculation while a burn is active.
Low-bandwidth mode. A text-only, no-thumbnail view of reports and camera feeds keeps the dashboard usable on congested mountain LTE or weak satellite links during an active event.
Evacuation visibility. During an active event, citizen reports along Hwy 50, 89, and 267 surface which corridors are going zero-visibility.

Built for mountain-town reality

Extreme image compression at the edge for congested LTE.
Compass-bearing capture so a photo of a 15-mile-away plume maps as a vector, not a pin on the reporter.
EXIF and home-address scrubbing on every submission.
Server-side moderation, device blocklist, and an admin layer that can remove inaccurate or duplicate reports before they cause “smoke column panic.”

Data for partners

Every citizen report is available as a live GeoJSON feed — no login, no API key. Paste a URL into ArcGIS Online, QGIS, Google Earth, WebEOC, or any Leaflet/Mapbox app and it renders as a layer.

Observer points

https://tahoesmokevector.app/api/public/feed.geojson

One Point per report at the reporter's position.

Sight-line vectors

https://tahoesmokevector.app/api/public/feed.geojson?geometry=vector

One LineString per report along the compass bearing out to the estimated distance. Crossing lines from multiple reporters triangulate the column.

Both layers

https://tahoesmokevector.app/api/public/feed.geojson?geometry=both

Points and sight lines in a single FeatureCollection.

Query parameters

hours — lookback window. Default 24, max 168.
geometry — point (default), vector, or both.
severity — comma-separated list, e.g. Black (Heavy Smoke).
bbox — west,south,east,north to clip to your district.

Sample response

{
  "type": "FeatureCollection",
  "generated_at": "2026-08-23T15:40:00.000Z",
  "source": "I SEE SMOKE — Tahoe Smoke Vector citizen reports",
  "features": [
    {
      "type": "Feature",
      "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [-120.0324, 39.3280] },
      "properties": {
        "id": "…",
        "created_at": "2026-08-23T14:12:03.000Z",
        "age_hours": 1.5,
        "age_tier": "fresh",
        "severity": "Gray (Moderate Smoke)",
        "bearing_deg": 215,
        "estimated_distance_miles": 8,
        "reporter_location_name": "Tahoe City, CA",
        "geometry_role": "observer",
        "disclaimer": "Unverified citizen observation. …"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Adding it to your GIS

ArcGIS Online: Map viewer → Add → Add layer from URL → paste the feed URL → type GeoJSON.
QGIS: Layer → Add Layer → Add Vector Layer → Protocol: HTTP(S), Type: GeoJSON → paste the URL.

Feeds refresh continuously and are cached for 60 seconds. Synthetic test data, photos, and device identifiers are never included. Every feature carries a disclaimer field — these are unverified citizen observations, not official agency reports or fire perimeters.

Also available: the public live map at /dashboard — embed-friendly, no login.

Who built it & how to reach us

I SEE SMOKE is built and maintained by www.digi-journeyman.com. We're actively looking for fire-service input on what citizen data is actually useful at the IC table — and what to leave out.

Have feedback or want to partner? Contact us.

Open live map Trust & data practices