Privacy and cookies

Who is responsible for your information

Greener Systems Limited operates Wildfire Watch and is the data controller for personal information collected through this service. You can contact the controller through the operator website or the Wildfire Watch contact form.

Information we handle

• Account and authentication information: email address, username, optional display name, password hash, email-verification and password-reset records, session identifiers, account status and accepted policy versions. We do not store your readable password.
• Chosen and saved locations: displayed place names, latitude and longitude, monitoring distances, saved-location slot and update times.
• Email monitoring: verified notification address, monitoring choices, previous and current location status, alert reason and evidence summary, delivery attempts, provider reference, delivery result and time.
• Membership and subscription information: membership type, entitlement dates and status, billing provider and provider customer or subscription references where applicable. Payment-card details are handled by the payment provider and are not stored by Wildfire Watch.
• Messages and correction requests: your name, email address, organisation where requested, the subject of your enquiry and anything you write.
• Technical information: IP address, request time, requested page, browser or device information, security events and diagnostic logs needed to deliver and protect the service.
• Performance measurements: limited page-performance and usage measurements collected through Cloudflare Web Analytics.

Please do not send medical information, credentials or other sensitive personal information through the forms.

How location works

Wildfire Watch does not ask for your device's position automatically. If you select Use current location, your browser or operating system asks whether you want to share it. If you allow this, the coordinates are used to name the selected point and provide wildfire, weather and wind information around it. You can instead search for a place or postcode or select a point on the map.

When you confirm a location, its displayed name and coordinates are stored in the wildfire-watch-location cookie on your device so the service can show the same location on later visits. The selection is also sent with requests for location-specific information. It is not used for advertising or to follow you across other websites.

Why we use personal information and our lawful bases

We use account identifiers and authentication records to create and secure the account; saved locations and monitoring choices to provide the requested location-monitoring service; membership records to provide and administer the selected membership; and contact details to send requested service, safety and wildfire-status messages. These activities are necessary to provide the account or membership service you ask for and to take steps at your request.

We use necessary technical, security, diagnostic, delivery and audit information under our legitimate interests in operating, securing, troubleshooting and improving Wildfire Watch, preventing abuse and demonstrating that messages and account changes were handled correctly. We use contact and correction details to answer enquiries and maintain an accountable correction history. We also process information where necessary to comply with a legal obligation.

Product news and promotional email is separate from operational wildfire, security and service email. We send electronic marketing only where we have a valid legal route and provide a straightforward way to opt out. Where processing relies on consent, you can withdraw it at any time without affecting earlier processing.

Cookies and browser storage

wildfire-watch-location

A first-party functional cookie containing the chosen location name, latitude and longitude. It is set only after you confirm a location, lasts for up to one year and is used to provide and remember the location-based service you requested. It is marked SameSite=Lax and Secure on HTTPS connections. We treat it as strictly necessary for the remembered-location feature requested by the user, so we do not ask for cookie consent before setting it.

Legacy session storage

The site can read an older location selection from browser sessionStorage for compatibility. Session storage normally ends when the browser tab or session closes.

Cloudflare Web Analytics

The production site uses a performance beacon supplied by Cloudflare. According to Cloudflare, this beacon does not store or read cookies, local storage or session storage and does not retain source IP addresses in its analytics databases.

Cloudflare Turnstile

Contact and correction forms may use Cloudflare Turnstile to identify automated abuse. Turnstile may process technical and interaction information and use browser storage that is strictly necessary for the security check.

We do not currently use advertising cookies or cross-site behavioural tracking. You can remove the location cookie using your browser's site-data controls. If you remove it, Wildfire Watch will ask you to choose a location again. Blocking it does not prevent you using the public information pages, but your selection will not be remembered.

Who receives information

Information may be handled by service providers supporting hosting, database storage, content delivery, security, form verification, transactional email delivery, mapping, geocoding, weather information, service monitoring and—when paid memberships launch—payment processing. This includes Cloudflare where its delivery, analytics or Turnstile services are active and the configured SMTP provider for account and alert email. A selected location may be sent to relevant providers when needed to return a place name, map, weather or location-specific result. We require providers to handle information for the relevant service and do not sell personal information.

We may disclose information where required by law, to establish or defend legal rights, or to protect people and the service from fraud, misuse or security threats. Some providers may process information outside the United Kingdom; where UK data-protection law requires safeguards for an international transfer, we use an approved safeguard or another lawful transfer mechanism.

How long we keep information

The location cookie remains on your device for up to one year unless you remove or replace it. Browser geolocation permission is controlled by your browser or operating system. Account, saved-location, preference and active-membership information is retained while the account remains active and as needed to provide the service. Alert history and email delivery records are retained for a limited period so members can view recent alerts, delivery can be retried, and faults or complaints can be investigated. Authentication, security, audit, contact, correction and transaction records are retained only for the period reasonably needed for security, accountability, legal, tax or dispute purposes.

When you delete an eligible account, active sessions are revoked, saved locations and notification records are removed, communications are disabled and the account is anonymised. Limited records may remain where required to establish the deletion, meet a legal obligation, prevent fraud or resolve a dispute. We periodically review retention and delete or anonymise information when it is no longer needed.

Your data-protection rights

Depending on the circumstances and lawful basis, you may have rights to ask for access to your personal information, correction, deletion, restriction, objection, or transfer of information you supplied. You can manage saved locations and monitoring choices in your account and can delete a non-administrator account there. Where processing relies on consent, you can withdraw it without affecting earlier processing. These rights can have legal limits, and we may need to confirm your identity before acting.

Your right to object: you may object to processing based on legitimate interests. You may object to direct marketing at any time; product-news email can be switched off in your account.

To make a request, use the contact form and say that it concerns data protection. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office. Its website is ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint. Please contact us first if you are comfortable doing so, as we may be able to resolve the concern.

Children and changes

The service is intended for a general audience and does not knowingly seek personal information from children. We may update this notice when the service, providers or legal requirements change. Material changes will be identified on this page by a new last-updated date.