The app claimed to have alerted UC Berkeley of a shooting a minute after it happened. Now, the University of Oregon has been invited to join Wildfire.
Wildfire “keeps UO students informed of what’s happening on campus,” per the email sent to University of Oregon students and faculty. It works by sending out informational updates “based on your current location,” according to its website.
The app, originally created by graduates from UC Berkeley, began arriving in UO inboxes this fall. Ads have shown up at other universities, including Syracuse University, UC Davis and University of Idaho. Wildfire reports “tens of thousands of college students at over 30 campuses” using their app.
“The UO is aware of emails sent out recently asking some students, faculty, and staff to sign up for an emergency notification app called Wildfire,” UO Public Affairs Director Kay Jarvis said, “Wildfire is operated by a private outside company and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the university.”
“The university is looking into how Wildfire obtained student email addresses, but there is no indication of a security breach,” Jarvis said. In October 2018, Around the O reported that the university were taking steps to limit public access to UO student information on Find People, the university’s directory.
Wildfire did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Inside the app, the users ask each other about activity on campus. “Ambulance outside straub?” a recent message asked; “does anyone know what happened last night in the walton dorm? Fire?” said another. Many messages are not formal inquiries into the UO campus — one user asked, “Does anyone know how to successfully invest with bitcoin?”
“I think it would be more useful if there were more people who used it,” said freshman Madeline Snoke, a Wildfire user, “There aren’t many posts.” In the past two weeks, 25 unique messages, and three top alerts, have been posted on Wildfire.
Wildfire is not widespread enough to garner comment from faculty.
“Official UO channels will provide the most reliable and accurate information in any emergency incident,” said Jarvis. UO Alert is the university’s official emergency alert system, ran by Safety and Risk Services.
“I think that the UO alert system should be the primary alert method because there is more certainty when the school addresses an issue as opposed to when students ask one another,” said Snoke, “but that’s not to say we shouldn’t have both.”
