Hazards Near Me NSW

I think this app provides an excellent service to people living in, or travelling to, bushfire prone areas. However, living in an area that is currently threatened by bushfires, I have a major suggestion that would help improve the service a lot. The update frequency has been good as the fires developed over the last few days, but the information given on each report has been exactly the same for each threat level even though the fire has clearly grown and moved substantially in that time period. If you are going to provide people with this sort of information they are going to want to be able to rely on its accuracy. The information given (locations and size of the fires burning) should be as accurate as possible to allow people to visually understand the level of threat posed to them so they can make informed decisions about evacuation. I think the RFS are doing an amazing job on all fronts in trying to contain the catastrophe we are currently experiencing, this is simply a tiny bit of constructive criticism that could help save more lives and homes in the future.

Whilst I have found this app very helpful and informative, I have noticed that it really isn’t as accurate with updated information with regards to current situations, which increases my anxiety because I don’t know what to believe. For example, due to lots of smoke in my area today, I checked the app, which showed a fire 4 Klms from me. However, when the local Fire Station put a status on Facebook, they reassured their followers that there are no active fires in my region and the smoke was from a fire outside of this area, which means that the app is wrong. It’s also confusing with the white diamond when it says it’s not applicable to me. I also tried to add Watch Zones but when I use my current location, it said that it was for New South Wales only but... I AM in New South Wales. I realise that thousands of people have obviously downloaded this app in the last few days due to the dangerous weather conditions, but it really needs to be more accurate with current events.

Found app very helpful with recent fires on mid north coast and my first time using it. Have noticed a few things that may need to be reviewed and improved if possible: 1. Not sure if the shaded areas shown on the map are active fires and map legend doesn’t explain what this is or means. 2. Would be useful to know via a time stamp how recent the information I’m looking at actually is. Hoping it isn’t hours old as it’s being used to make an informed decision. 3. Have had multiple bursts of push notifications with an hour or two saying a fire has entered my watch zone yet when I view the map nothing (ie shaded area) is visible. 4. The list function is a little misleading in that the distance of fire appears to be related to where the fire classification label is placed rather than the distance to the app user which is what was of particular interest at the time. 5. The shaded areas sometimes weren’t shown as previously and then reappeared an hour or two later.

Hello, we have been obsessively using this app this Fire season to check where things are at. There is a fire close by that we are keeping an eye on. One suggestion I would like to offer would be adding the wind direction and possibly wind speed to the updates of the fires so that we can track what direction it’s moving in as it happens. I believe this will encourage people to prepared to evacuate because they will be able to see ahead of time if they are in the path of the fire that day even if the fire isn’t close by yet (for spot fires).

Since the new version of the app it is no longer necessary to input your location BUT you can’t input any location. Since becoming aware of the app I estimate equal usage putting in other locations and having a list of fires based on that distance from there. This has been helpful if I am considering traveling as I could access details of fires where I am traveling to or areas I am traveling through. It was also helpful to assist friends who may not have access to the app themselves. In future versions would you also include the notification date and time for each fire to assist with activation of Get Ready plans.