Introducing Hipcamp’s Fire Safety System Powered By the National Weather Service

We’re excited to share that Hipcamp has integrated with the National Weather Service (NWS) to help U.S. Hipcamp Hosts get an extra notification for when they may want to enable their fire ban. Fire conditions change quickly and can sometimes be confusing, especially in times of emergency, so we added this feature to proactively share fire safety information directly from a government agency.

We access fire advisory information across the country and around the clock with a focus on the NWS’ real-time Fire Weather Watch notifications and Red Flag Warnings. A Fire Weather Watch signals a high potential for dangerous fire conditions (a Red Flag Warning) in the next 12 to 72 hours. A Red Flag Warning signals that dangerous fire conditions are imminent within the next 24 to 48 hours or already occurring.

We send this information to Hosts who have properties in the affected areas, letting them know that an alert has been issued and providing a web link so they can view the alert specific to their region. We then urge Hosts to consider enacting a fire ban on their property to keep their communities and Hipcampers safe. If they choose to turn on a fire ban, any Hipcampers with upcoming reservations at their property are notified right away.

Residents may not always be aware when there’s high fire danger in their area, or what they should do about it. To give Hosts even more control in keeping their land safe, we’ve also refined our fire ban tool to be much more specific. The new fire ban tool allows Hosts to set an end date, select from a pre-populated list of allowed exceptions to the rule, and provide an optional note for their Hipcampers. Allowed exceptions and optional notes are displayed prominently to the Hipcampers on the Host’s listing and rules pages. Combined with the National Weather Service alerts we send, we’re confident that our Hosts can use the fire ban tool to make informed decisions to keep their property and Hipcampers safe.

For more on Hipcamp fire safety, read about our fire ban tool.