SpikeCamp · note
What SpikeCamp crew tracking does today
October 16, 2026 · SpikeCamp
Crew tracking, the emergency button, the command board, briefings, messaging, and TAK feeds are live in SpikeCamp. Meshtastic position relay is in development and field testing. A native companion for background tracking is next.
This note matches the reference at crew tracking. Labels mean the same thing in both places.
The problem
A hand crew in a steep drainage can lose cell service in a few steps. Radios still work when someone is on the right channel and someone else can answer. A location passed on the radio is easy to mis-hear, and it does not draw a dot for the rest of the division.
A September 2025 Government Accountability Office report, GAO-25-107905, said the Forest Service cannot track and map the locations of most of its firefighters on foot, and that those locations are radioed in. SpikeCamp starts on that gap with the phone crews already carry, links that fail over, and a feed into the tools agencies already run.
What is live
Live means you can use it today. In development means it is being built or tested and is not something to rely on yet.
- Crew tracking by assignment Live today
Command opens an incident and reads out a six-character join code. Each crew member opts in for that assignment with a callsign, resource type, and crew. Positions are recorded on the cadence command sets, from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. Rest pauses it, Stop ends it, and Demob leaves the incident. Command can start or stop tracking for a member too. Open crew tracking.
- Keeps working with no signal Live today
A position taken with no service waits on the phone and sends the moment any link returns, oldest first, with no duplicates. Each report says which link carried it: cell, Wi-Fi, or a Starlink hotspot marked as satellite. Command sees anyone who goes quiet past the threshold as dropped off, with their last position.
- Emergency button Live today
Hold for two seconds to raise an emergency with your last position and the link it came over. With no signal it queues and sends as soon as it can. Command gets a banner with Locate and Acknowledge, and TAK feeds carry it as a 911 alert until it is acknowledged.
- Command board and tactical replay Live today
Live positions, three-hour trails, accuracy rings, and dropped-off status on topo or imagery, filtered by crew, resource type, or who needs attention. Command sets the report cadence, the dropped-off threshold, and how long positions are kept. With replay turned on, command can play back any window from the last 14 days.
- Briefings and messaging Live today
Command sends the daily briefing to everyone, one crew, or one resource type, and sees who has it on their phone and who acknowledged it, with a one-tap reminder for the rest. Crews have their own channel, everyone has a private line to command, and anyone can message anyone on the incident. Messages wait for signal instead of failing. Messages and briefings may be machine-monitored and reviewed by command or the agency, and are not private.
- TAK, KML, and GeoJSON feeds Live today
Command can create a read-only feed for the common operating picture: Cursor on Target for TAK servers and WFTAK, KML as a network link in ATAK or Google Earth, and GeoJSON for ArcGIS Online, Field Maps, or EGP. Each feed can be filtered by crew or resource type and revoked at any time. Feeds carry a per-incident ID, never an account or an email.
- Offline tactical maps Live today
An incident pack can be saved on the phone: the map, terrain, roads, drop points, and water. The Sinlahekin pack is about 24 MB. Your GPS dot still draws on that saved map when the phone has no service.
- Tactical layers Live today
National Weather Service weather and Red Flag warnings, FAA fire temporary flight restrictions, and aircraft when the phone is online. A saved pack shows the last copy offline. Aircraft comes from public ADS-B and is for awareness only. It is not a tool for separating aircraft.
- Family link and pins Live today
On Pro, family see a town, county, or region and your check-ins, delayed 30 minutes, never a coordinate. Pins are heads-ups and requests for a crew or an incident. They are not on the public fire map and they expire on their own.
- Meshtastic position relay In development
A radio beside the phone carries its position over LoRa, radio to radio, to a gateway with an uplink, and the gateway forwards it to the incident. The gateway bridge is written and the app can bind a radio to a crew member. It has not run on an incident, so it is not a live mesh. Field testing starts when our radios arrive, before any claim that it works.
- Native companion for background tracking In development
A browser pauses GPS when the phone locks. SpikeCamp holds the screen on while tracking and warns when it is in the background, but an Android companion app is the real fix for a 16-hour shift. Until then, a Meshtastic app on the phone can keep beaconing in the background.
- Messages over the mesh In development
Short messages and briefing acknowledgements carried over the Meshtastic text channel when no other link exists.
- External GPS devices In development
A GPS puck, or the GPS inside a radio, separate from the phone. Not supported yet.
- Vitals to a medic In development
A small heart-rate summary from the on-phone health log to the crew medic, with no name and no position. Today the health log stays on the phone.
How it works
The picture below is the path a position takes. The phone, store-and-forward, the Starlink or cell uplink, SpikeCamp, and the agency feed work today. The Meshtastic radio and its hops are in development.
The phone takes a GPS fix on command’s cadence and keeps it until it is delivered. Every fix carries its accuracy, the battery level, and the link that sent it.
When the phone has cell service, or is on a Starlink Mini’s Wi-Fi, positions go straight to SpikeCamp. When it has nothing, they wait and send in order when a link comes back.
A Meshtastic node next to the phone would carry a short position over LoRa to the next node, then to a gateway with an uplink. The gateway bridge is written and waiting on field tests.
SpikeCamp shows command the board, raises emergencies, delivers briefings and messages, and publishes Cursor on Target, KML, and GeoJSON for the agency’s common operating picture.
Privacy and control
Crew tracking is opt-in for each assignment, and it stops on rest, stop, demob, or when command closes the incident. This site does not publish a firefighter’s location. The public fire map shows fires, not people.
Each position holds the time, the location and its accuracy, altitude, speed, heading, battery, and the link that sent it. Nothing else. Command for that incident sees positions, and so does any feed command chooses to share. Feeds carry an ID that is unique to the incident, never an account or an email.
Positions and alerts are deleted after the incident’s retention period, 30 days unless command changes it. An audit log records joins, status changes, emergencies, acknowledgements, settings, feeds, and replays. Messages and briefings may be machine-monitored and reviewed by command or the agency, and are not private.
Hardware we test with
These are the radios, the terminal, and the phones we test with. Nothing on this page is an affiliate link, a referral code, or a checkout.
Meshtastic kits
Card-size nodes with GPS, and a gateway for a spike camp or a ridge. We flash a crew channel and label them when we test. They are not for sale on this page. Meshtastic is the open-source radio project. We do not link to a store.
Starlink Mini
A small satellite terminal for a crew truck or a spike camp. Phones on its Wi-Fi report positions like any other connection, and SpikeCamp marks those reports as satellite when the phone says the hotspot is Starlink. Buy and activate it from Starlink. That is the official site, not a referral link.
Android phones
The phones we use in tests. SpikeCamp is a website you install on the phone. Tracking asks for the phone’s location. We are not listing a phone to buy.
Why this exists
SpikeCamp is built by firefighters, on the job. The founder is an active wildland firefighter and a former US Army field artillery officer. We do not publish the founder’s name here.
The company is Ultra Labs, in Washington. The work started on the 2026 Sinlahekin Fire, from crews who drop off the map the moment the phone has no signal. Time reports, a quals wallet, and the public fire map sit beside it. SpikeCamp is a supplement. It is not the incident action plan.
Questions
Can a crew lead see me in a canyon with no service?
Not while you are in the canyon. Your positions wait on your phone and reach command as soon as any link returns, and command sees you as dropped off with your last position in the meantime. Carrying positions across a Meshtastic mesh with no service is in development. Until it is proven in the field, the radio plan is how people know where you are.
Can an agency put this on TAK or WFTAK?
Yes. Command can create a Cursor on Target feed for a TAK server, a KML network link for ATAK or Google Earth, or a GeoJSON layer for ArcGIS. We have tested the format, not every agency server, so try it against yours before an incident.
Who sees my position?
Command on the incident you joined, and any feed command shares with its common operating picture. Crew members do not see each other on the board. The public fire map shows fires, not people. Positions are deleted after the incident’s retention period, 30 days unless command changes it.
Are messages private?
No. Messages and briefings may be machine-monitored and reviewed by incident command or your agency, and they are kept with the incident record. A direct message shows only to the two of you in the app, but it is stored like the rest.
Does my family see my coordinates?
No. A family link shows a general area and your check-ins, delayed at least 30 minutes, and only after you create the link on Pro. Exact location, crew mates, and tactical pins are not on that page.
Is the fleet screen a live crew?
No. Fleet in the More menu is sample data: example names, radios, and a Starlink row. Live tracking is Crew tracking.
Are the Meshtastic kits for sale here?
No. We test with Meshtastic nodes. They are not for sale, and this page has no affiliate links and no referral codes.
Do I need the Crew plan?
Not during the pilot. Crew tracking, the emergency button, briefings, messaging, and the feeds are open to every signed-in crew while we pilot. The Crew plan is $99/seat/year for land ownership and the crew tools on the price list.
Is this an official tracker or an evacuation order?
No. SpikeCamp is a supplement. It is not an evacuation order, a radio plan, or a replacement for the incident action plan. Follow official orders.
Run a crew pilot
Try it on your next assignment: open an incident, read out the join code at briefing, and watch the board fill in. Agencies and crews who want help setting up a pilot, or who will tell us what is wrong with it on a real division, can write to us.
In the app, Report a problem with category Crew reaches the same people. Email ops@spikecamp.app if that sheet is not on your screen.