Comparison

Wildfire Info vs Firesource

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Wildfire Info

Stay informed about global wildfire and prescribed burn activity. Access real-time data from various sources including satellite imagery, official incident reports, and news feeds. Includes hyper-local weather forecasts for the USA, Canada, and Australia.

Highlights
  • Global wildfire and prescribed burn maps
  • MODIS/VIIRS thermal hotspot data
  • Inciweb & CAL FIRE incident links
  • Hyper-local weather forecasts (USA, Canada, Australia)
  • Wildfire news aggregation
  • Satellite smoke plume animations
  • Map measurement tool
Features
Read full description

Disclaimer: This unofficial app does not represent any government agency and is not affiliated with any government agency. The sources of the data are the publicly accessible sources listed below. Browse current wildfire and prescribed burn activity throughout all of the world. Active Wildfire Perimeter data from NIFC WFIGS. Tagged by state, search by name, and filter by acres burned. WFIGS stands for the Wildland Fire Interagency Geospatial Services (WFIGS) Group. NIFC stands for the National Interagency Fire Center. NIFC WFIGS Source URLs: https://www.nifc.gov/ with data hosted at https://data-nifc.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/nifc::wfigs-current-interagency-fire-perimeters/about NASA MODIS and VIIRS satellite instruments data: Thermal hotspot maps by region show wildfire activity in the past 48 hours. See hotspot info including fire radiance power, brightness temperature, and confidence. NASA MODIS/VIIRS Source URL: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/active_fire/ . MODIS stands for Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer. VIIRS stands for Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite. InciWeb & CAL FIRE active fire maps: hot-link to the corresponding official incident webpage. Inciweb Source URL: https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/ , CAL FIRE Source URL: https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents CHP (California Highway Patrol): Incidents in the past 3 hours related to fires are filtered out separately, all traffic incidents are included viewable by last 1 or 3 hours.CHP Source URL: https://cad.chp.ca.gov/Traffic.aspx Lookup current hyper-local weather conditions, including temperature, wind and gust conditions, and local forecasts anywhere in the USA, Canada, or Australia using map quick lookup or, for USA, search: Detailed NWS Forecast, Hourly Forecast, Grid Data Forecast, and Summary Forecast. Data is from the NWS, NOAA, Government of Canada, and Government of Australia. NWS/NOAA Source URL: https://forecast.weather.gov/, Government of Canada Weather Source URL: https://weather.gc.ca/, Government of Australia Weather Source URL: http://www.bom.gov.au/ Wildfire Situation Reports section with mirrored PDFs from NIFC. NIFC Source URL: https://www.nifc.gov NESDIS GOES 16/17 Satellite Animations show wildfire smoke plumes, drought conditions, etc. from the satellite's perspective. NESDIS GOES Source URL: https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov. NESDIS stands for National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service. GOES stands for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite. A Recent Wildfire News section: find news from 1,700+ cited sources quickly on a map or in a table view tagged by state alphabetically. Set up your own custom state feed with the state toggles. Quickly lookup news source homepages near specific fires. Map Measurement Tool added to the Map Tools Side Menu. Measure distance and area. Premium users: View 250m resolution true color images from NASA GIBS (Global Imagery Browse Service). Images are available back to Jan. 1 2007. Worldwide coverage. Premium Users: Lookup a driving route to any fire or hotspot with Google or Apple Maps directions Universal Links. Save your preferred Directions Provider in the App Settings. There is a section for wildfire-related US government Twitter accounts viewable by map by approximate location or sorted into national and state sources in a table view. Twitter Source URLs: https://twitter.com User-Submitted Fire Map feature: map-based wildfire-related chatter. Photos are allowed. Posts and replies are anonymous; no account needed. Information is posted as soon as it becomes available from WFIGS, NIFC, NASA, InciWeb, CAL FIRE, CHP, NESDIS, NOAA, NWS, Government of Canada, and Government of Australia. This app is not affiliated with any government agency. Terms of Use: https://davidgrossapps.com/terms/tos-wildfire-info.html Privacy Policy: https://davidgrossapps.com/privacy-policy.html

About

Firesource

Track live wildfires with real-time data on a map and in a feed. Access detailed fire perimeters, news updates, and air quality measurements. Users can also report nearby fires with photos and location data.

Highlights
  • Live fire map and feed
  • Real-time fire perimeters
  • Air quality measurements (AQI)
  • User-reported fire alerts
  • Satellite fire detections
  • News updates and reports
Features
Read full description

Firesource’s features: ◦ Live fire feed - both on map and in scrollable menu ◦ Local and national fire incidents - news updates and reports ◦ Fire perimeters - access all realtime fire perimeters at once with information about fire growth and progress, including acreage, containment, personnel, fire cause, and fire behavior ◦ Report a fire - instantly inform other users of a nearby fire by pressing the + button, taking a picture of the fire, and submitting ◦ Air quality - see the effects of recent fires by viewing realtime air quality measurements across the country ◦ Satellite fire detections can indicate new fires and how current fires are spreading National Fires (InciWeb, Cal Fire, IRWIN): InciWeb is an interagency incident management system run by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group. InciWeb collects wildfire incident data from several agencies across the United States and provides all of this data together in several feeds. Firesource presents wildfire incidents reported by InciWeb in real time, providing the fire’s location and detailed status. Learn more about InciWeb at their website: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/. Learn more about Cal Fire, which also provides incident information, at their website: https://www.fire.ca.gov. Learn more about IRWIN, the data hub of fire reports, at https://www.forestsandrangelands.gov/WFIT/applications/IRWIN/. National Fires (Perimeters): Perimeter data is provided by the Wildland Fire Interagency Geospatial Services (WFIGS) Group and hosted in the National Interagency Fire Center ArcGIS Online Organization (The NIFC Org). Firesource displays fire perimeters and descriptions of their progress in the ‘National Fires’ tab of the menu, with this information updated on a regular basis. Learn more about the NIFC at their website: https://www.nifc.gov User-Reported Fires: Allowing app users to report a fire and immediately inform other users is an essential aspect of Firesource. To report a fire, press the yellow + button in the top right corner of the map, select the type of fire (vehicle fire, forest fire, terrain fire, structure fire), take a photo of the fire, and press submit. To ensure the validity of fire reports, the user must take a photo of the fire and cannot access Camera Roll to select a picture. Please note that submitting a fire report automatically creates the report at the user’s location, to further ensure that the fire is local and valid. When viewing user-reported fires in the feed, other users can ‘rate’ the fire report by confirming that it is active, contained, or a spam reporting. Air Quality: Air quality measurements from across the United States are collected from AirNow.gov, which provides national air quality data using the Air Quality Index (AQI). This data is color-coded to provide information about health concerns due to PM2.5 pollutants. Satellite-Detected Fires: Thermal hotspot detections are displayed and collected from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), which is an instrument on the Terra and Aqua satellites. Information provided from MODIS about each detection includes brightness (brightness temperature in Kelvin of a fire pixel) and confidence (quality of fire pixel). These fire detections are extremely useful, as they can indicate new fires and fire spread. Learn more about MODIS at their website: https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov Firesource is not affiliated with any government agencies. Firesource is only available for iPhone and iPad in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Privacy Policy: https://firesourceapp.weebly.com/privacy-policy.html Learn more and contact us at https://firesourceapp.weebly.com/

Screenshots

Wildfire Info4 screens
Firesource4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Firesource at 4.7 against Wildfire Info's 3.4. Firesource also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (2.5K vs 31). Wildfire Info's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). On price, review sentiment, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Wildfire Info sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $0.99 per year. Firesource asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Firesource holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Firesource has 2.5K ratings behind it against 31, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 39% and 39% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Wildfire Info ships an update fortnightly, Firesource every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on August 7, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Wildfire Info versus Firesource: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWildfire InfoFiresource
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.4 (31 ratings)4.7 (2.5K ratings) — better
Positive reviews38.9% of reviews — better38.6% of reviews
Number of ratings312.5K — better
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.613.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB38 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperDavid GrossHemal doshi

Customer experience

Wildfire Info

All ratings31 ratings
Positive54.8%
Neutral6.5%
Negative38.7%
Written reviews36 reviews
Positive38.9%
Neutral8.3%
Negative52.8%

Firesource

All ratings2,536 ratings
Positive92.1%
Neutral4.4%
Negative3.5%
Written reviews44 reviews
Positive38.6%
Neutral13.6%
Negative47.7%

Bugs and requests

Wildfire Info

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Firesource

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Fires not showing up on the map
  • Air quality data not updating
  • App keeps logging users out

Requested features

3 requests
  • Horizontal view for iPad
  • Notifications for nearby fires
  • More detailed fire information (size, direction, containment)

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Wildfire Info

Subscriptions1
  • Wildfire Info Premium$0.991 Year
None

Firesource

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Wildfire Info free?
Wildfire Info is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Firesource free?
Firesource is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Wildfire Info or Firesource?
Firesource is rated higher. Wildfire Info averages 3.4 out of 5 from 31 ratings, while Firesource averages 4.7 from 2.5K ratings.
Do Wildfire Info or Firesource have ads?
Neither Wildfire Info nor Firesource shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Wildfire Info or Firesource?
Wildfire Info ships an update fortnightly, and Firesource every 2 months. Most recently, Wildfire Info was updated on August 7, 2026 and Firesource on September 23, 2026.

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