Blaze: Wildfires wins Rep. Jackie Speier’s (CA-14) 2020 Congressional App Challenge

When asked what inspired the creation of Blaze: Wildfires, the students said, “The increasing size and amplitude of wildfires around California impose danger to citizens, destroy thousands of homes, and result in billions in costly repairs. Despite the availability of government statistics and news reports, we continue to experience a lack of common and easily accessed information about wildfire status and safety in our own communities. Therefore, we wish to serve California with a modern application to represent the widespread fires which impact our state.”

Over 6,500 students registered for the 2020 Congressional App Challenge. These students created and submitted 3,088 functioning apps, marking the end of an extremely successful Congressional App Challenge amid the COVID-19 pandemic. All told, 308 Members of Congress hosted Congressional App Challenges in their districts across 49 states, Puerto Rico, the Mariana Islands, and Washington, DC.

The CAC is an initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Members of Congress host competitions in their districts for middle school and high school students, encouraging them to learn to code and inspiring them to pursue careers in computer science. The Internet Education Foundation provides the CAC with supplemental support. In the six years of the Congressional App Challenge, thousands of functional apps have been created by over 30,000 students, and participant demographics surpass all industry diversity metrics.