photo credit: Congressional App Challenge
Congressional App Challenge contestants on the US Capitol steps in Washington DC.

Say it's a sunny June afternoon and you want to know with just one picture the risk of a fire starting on the grassy hillside in the backyard.

Or maybe it's a stormy December night, the power's out and you want to let your family know you're safe.

There's an app for that and KRCB News spoke with the young local designers behind them.

There's no fancy San Francisco offices or millions and startup money behind these apps, just high-schoolers and a congressional stamp of approval.

Each year students across the country enter apps they've coded and created themselves for a chance to win the Congressional App Challenge.

The most recent winners from the North Bay: Rehan Nazeem and Lisa Zhang.

"I already have some skills related to coding, but I've never made an app before," Nazeem said. "I thought this would be the perfect way and that's what prompted me to make the app."

"I designed the app because at the time there was a lot of news about Hurricane Helene," Zhang said.

Nazeem, a high school student in Novato took home first place in California's 2nd Congressional District for his app Terrain Fire Risk Analyzer.

"The user can upload an image from their camera, and then from there, what my model does is, based on a variety of factors such as the dryness and the height of vegetation, it classifies what it sees into one of these categories," Nazeem said. "Which tells you how much of a risk your terrain is."

Zhang, a student in Santa Rosa won the top slot in CA District 4, for her app SOS Connect, which can help users, "reconnect with their loved ones and help them during evacuation or like report emergency," Zhang said. "Like all the things that cause people a lot of stress from natural disasters, like in this area that's obviously wildfires."

Zhang said it was her personal experience during the 2017 Tubbs Fire that inspired SOS Connect.

"I just created my app to have features like you can report emergencies," Zhang said. "When I was evacuated in the Tubbs Fire, my family did not know how to open the garage door without electricity. So, I just included in AI features, you can ask it questions when you're under a time of stress."

Zhang, who also codes with the group 404Found, and Nazeem said even with their busy school schedules, they're continuing to update and improve their apps.

A full list of Congressional App Challenge winners from across the country, and information on the 2025 contest can be found online.