Bushfire season is in full swing, and knowing the location of potentially risky fires is essential, especially if you live in a rural area. Fire services make full use of technology to keep Australians informed, with all offering online updates and many offering specific apps as well. We’ve rounded them all up to help you keep safe this summer.
Below we’ve listed every site, map, RSS feed, Twitter feed, Facebook page, iOS and Android app we could locate for the major fire services in Australia (larger states have distinct urban and rural organisations; we’ve listed the rural ones first where appropriate, since they more typically deal with bushfires). If we’ve missed something, let us know in the comments. We’ve only included official apps and sites, not third-party services that draw on the published information.
Facebook and Twitter are useful as official sites can be hard to access during periods of high traffic. During periods of high fire danger, it makes sense to check multiple sources, as systems can break down; fire authorities always stress not relying on any single source of information.
New South Wales
NSW Rural Fire Service: site, map, RSS, Twitter, Facebook, Android, iOS
Fire & Rescue NSW: site, RSS, Twitter, Facebook,
Victoria
Country Fire Authority: site, map, RSS, Twitter, Facebook, Android, iOS
Metropolitan Fire Board: site, Twitter, Facebook
Queensland
Rural Fire Service: site, map.
Queensland Fire And Rescue Service: site, Twitter.
Western Australia
Department Of Fire And Emergency Services: site, Twitter
South Australia
Country Fire Service: site, map, Twitter, Facebook, iOS
Metropolitan Fire Service: site, Twitter
Tasmania
Tasmania Fire Service: site, map, RSS, Twitter, Facebook
ACT
ACT Rural Fire Service: site, map, RSS, Twitter, Facebook
Northern Territory
Northern Territory Fire And Rescue Service: site
This story has been updated since its previous publication.
Comments
2 responses to “Bushfire Alert: The Sites And Apps You Need”
For another more timely, but less structured source of information in South Australia, have a look at http://www.sascan.net.au/?page=grnPaging I’m not sure if such a service exists in other states, but can sometimes be helpful for a more details than what is on the general websites.. keep up the good work angus
Great resource, but you forgot the SES. It seems some SES twitter feeds are more useful than others: @vicsesnews is pretty quiet, but @ACT_ESA is great and full of info.
Missed a few for QLD:
http://qldalert.com/ is the big one for Queensland, has all the major services and aggregates all the social media feeds, it is the ONE to have 🙂
http://www.emergency.qld.gov.au/ses/communitySafety.asp
http://www.emergency.qld.gov.au/ses/
Are other good ones as well
I tweeted this however the MFB page for Victoria is: https://www.facebook.com/Melbourne.MFB
Sentinel Hotspots is the nationwide satellite imagery mapping available to emergency services, and everyone else.
http://sentinel.ga.gov.au/acres/sentinel/index.shtml
For VIC, check out this site: http://www.emergencyvic.info/
Local ABC radio stations and their associated websites, blogs and twitter feeds are useful too.