Fire, Weather & Avalanche Center

The Fire, Weather & Avalanche Center (FWAC) provides services and products to inform the public about wildland fires, avalanches, and winter road & backcountry conditions across the country.

Their Needs

To continuously provide accurate, real-time data and critical public safety information on wildfires and extreme weather conditions, the FWAC needed a reliable, user-friendly app.

After introducing their Android app (built in-house), FWAC realized they are missing an opportunity to serve a big portion of their user base. More than 47% of mobile phone users in the US are utilizing an iOS device and FWAC's users are similar¹. As the company's user base was growing, they received feedback from numerous visitors and donors that they needed to build an iOS app to serve their users with iOS devices.

Our Solution

FWAC partnered with Beezwax to develop a brand-new native iOS app and facilitate the process to deploy it to Apple's App Store. With Beezwax's expertise, the Fire, Weather & Avalanche Center was able to design an app that functions similarly to the existing Android app, while adapting it to match the look and feel of iOS.

After working with Beezwax to deploy our iOS app, we have put more emphasis on developing technology that ensures we're compatible with Apple devices—native or on the web...

Beezwax's Solution

The Success Story

With the successful deployment of the app to the App Store, FWAC has seen thousands of downloads with regular user engagement and good retention. FWAC is excited to begin marketing the app for widespread adoption and expects to see a continued increase in downloads and daily user sessions.

The Background

While FWAC is a promoter of open-source technologies, and primarily works with Windows and Android, they know there is a large group of users on Apple devices. Historically, FWAC has not built technologies with iOS at the forefront, but after working with Beezwax to develop their iOS app, they have put more emphasis on developing technology that ensures they're compatible with Apple devices — native or on the web.

Tech employed:

React Native was leveraged to enable a rapid development cycle, which allowed us to quickly build prototypes for the client to review. React Native also allowed for the ability to merge the Android app into a single codebase in the future for simplified cross-platform development.

Wildfire season is our busiest time of the year, and we look forward to getting more wildfire information out to people via our new iOS app.

About FWAC

The Fire, Weather & Avalanche Center (FWAC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, founded in 2017, to provide critical, user-friendly tools for the public -- with an emphasis on the backcountry. FWAC provides services surrounding primarily wildland fires and winter road & backcountry conditions across the country. With over 1.5 million website users per year, FWAC continues to build new services for the public to use relating to their core competencies: wildfire, weather, and avalanche.

We are happy with the results of our iOS app and look forward to working with Beezwax again for version updates and when we need additional applications and features developed.

Fire, Weather & Avalanche Center

Want to stay informed on wildfires, avalanches, and weather conditions? Download The Fire, Weather & Avalanche Center App for free.