Excellent. Covers all of Australia
This app does an excellent job of pulling together all of the information from all states and territories. It seems that the way the details are presented varies between states (who would have thought it!) but the top level presentation is consistent. The details in the current Victorian fires is superb, with detailed instructions for the worst areas on survival techniques. If this were a paid app I would buy it, as it is free it is a no brained!
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Needs to be much better
It's good that alerts can be set without creating an account. Thank-you.
However, the app is stuck in the 2000's for basic functionality. For an app with years of development and so critical for rural lives, it needs more careful thought on what people need to stay safe.
So much more needs to be done. A couple of easy suggestions: A single black burnt area conveys too little information. Just showing all the updates to the burnt area in an cycled animation would be a powerful addition, eg like a rain radar image cycling through changes to the area with timestamps. Without any fancy analysis, this would be incredibly helpful to see the historical direction and velocity of the fire. notwithstanding updates to burn areas are not on regular intervals. eg, it could be made to work by adjusting the animation proportionally to the times of the updates.
Alerts also need more flexibility. It would be helpful for have multiple alerts levels for wider ranges. eg all alerts for 30km out, but critical alerts for 5-10k away. However, by forcing critical alerts for every watch area, you are forced to check and ignore critical alerts a long way away or only set alerts for nearby.
However, the app is stuck in the 2000's for basic functionality. For an app with years of development and so critical for rural lives, it needs more careful thought on what people need to stay safe.
So much more needs to be done. A couple of easy suggestions: A single black burnt area conveys too little information. Just showing all the updates to the burnt area in an cycled animation would be a powerful addition, eg like a rain radar image cycling through changes to the area with timestamps. Without any fancy analysis, this would be incredibly helpful to see the historical direction and velocity of the fire. notwithstanding updates to burn areas are not on regular intervals. eg, it could be made to work by adjusting the animation proportionally to the times of the updates.
Alerts also need more flexibility. It would be helpful for have multiple alerts levels for wider ranges. eg all alerts for 30km out, but critical alerts for 5-10k away. However, by forcing critical alerts for every watch area, you are forced to check and ignore critical alerts a long way away or only set alerts for nearby.
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Poor updating and poor management of this app in general
This app is the worst state in Australia for keeping its info updated. For an app that people in rural Australia rely on for info, the updating is slow to the point of being days behind the actual fire. I use the Victorian one as I am close to the border. It even includes area affected by the fire. I thought the royal commission into the fires would have resolved this issue but I was disappointed. Shame on the government for not making this a federal app…. As it stands it is slow and unreliable. The radio for RFS is a much better source of information than this pile of garbage.
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Distance setting
Agree with all the reviews re resolved etc, and when trying to set watch zone distance max is 50Km’s not matter what I set I’m getting notifications all over Australia? . And when looking at notifications that pop up not matter how many I open and look at ie,all over Australia,when I close the all it still has the notifications symbol ?
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Annoying “Resolved’ notifications
As at least one other person has remarked in the ‘incident resolved’ popup when tapping on a notification from this app. I’m getting the same things (and the Hazards Near Me NSW app has suddenly started doing the same thing, too). That reviewer also commented on this app behaviour substantially undermining the usefulness of the app, and needs to be fixed. The information panel for incidents do in fact show that they are still active.
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Useful
The only issue is when I get notifications in my watch zone, I immediately open the notification only to be told it has been resolved, looks like a bug, the app is otherwise very good.
Great concept, but has some issues
I love the idea of this app and really hope it can be further developed to address the issue everyone is mentioning - alerts come in only to be advised they have been resolved immediately. Hopefully it can be resolved, as I really want to be able to rely on this app.
Please fix the issue
This is a great app but I would just like to say that it stopped working since last night and now all the fires won’t pop up please fix this because there are bush fires in my area and I need to keep an eye on them
Different suggestion
I’m not having the false notification issue, although it’s obviously true for many people. I have other suggestions/issues…
The majority of fires on my map seem to be small incidents that happened days ago, that stay on the map for over a week. The more recent incidents potentially won’t get noticed due to these.
It’s also a little bit annoying to have the map reset every time I open it. It is always closely zoomed in on my current location rather than a broaderview. And it resets from satellite image to plain map.
The majority of fires on my map seem to be small incidents that happened days ago, that stay on the map for over a week. The more recent incidents potentially won’t get noticed due to these.
It’s also a little bit annoying to have the map reset every time I open it. It is always closely zoomed in on my current location rather than a broaderview. And it resets from satellite image to plain map.
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Notifications resolved as soon as sent
Great idea but..
Most times, as soon as I get a notification of a fire in my watch zones, and I click on it, it says it’s resolved - and this is often within 1 min that I check!
So why send the notification? This is not a one off, has happened at least 5 times in a week. I’ve checked immediately and been resolved. Encourages turning off alerts.
Most times, as soon as I get a notification of a fire in my watch zones, and I click on it, it says it’s resolved - and this is often within 1 min that I check!
So why send the notification? This is not a one off, has happened at least 5 times in a week. I’ve checked immediately and been resolved. Encourages turning off alerts.
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False initial status
Fires near me app version 6.1.0: for 5 minutes after a notification is received the app insists the incident has been resolved. Only after 5 minutes has elapsed does the app allow you to see the details and not say the incident has been resolved. This happens every time.
Should show details of all notifications even if resolved.
Should show details of all notifications even if resolved.
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The Boy Who Cried Wolf
Daily I am getting multiple notifications alerting me to fires. But as soon as I click on them I’m told that the incident has been resolved.
I’m so happy that our boys in the fire service are so efficient that they contain numerous fires in no more than 30 seconds.
If I didn’t know better I would swear that this is a prank app.
I’m so happy that our boys in the fire service are so efficient that they contain numerous fires in no more than 30 seconds.
If I didn’t know better I would swear that this is a prank app.
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Good
A good app. People should not expect exact accuracy with this technology. I can’t see how an app can keep up with total fire speed and mapping accuracy so don’t expect it or you’ll be disappointed. Go to local radio and news outlets.
Can’t delete the app
Had the app for a few weeks and then tried to delete it. It appears as deleted from the home screen but in settings it’s still listed but unable to open or edit. Same in the App Store. List as download and gives me the option to open. If I click the open button screen goes black and and back to home screen. Ever time my phone is restarted it appears on the home screen again. Super annoying that I can’t delete it. Creeps me out.
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Not as great as othere apos
I noticed a lot of fires dont get removed. Also on the vic fires app warning areas are higlited to tell you if its advice watch and act or emergency. But on this one it doesnt. Also on the vic fire app it has more info like rain rader wind rader and more. As it also tell you the size of the fire and how many vechiles are there. Overall this isnt the best fire app out there
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It’s helping our family
It’s helping our family see if there’s fires around
The fires hit mogo though but the others are scared but there’s one fire near me...but it’s far though ♥️
The fires hit mogo though but the others are scared but there’s one fire near me...but it’s far though ♥️
Confused - exactly how accurate are the updates??
I really am not sure what happened to reliability of this app ☹️. Initially when first told about it I was there and downloaded the app which was like having an extra arm, something that gave me accurate 100% info that left me feeling relatively well informed, BUT HOWEVER I no longer get notifications or important info - for eg: at around near 10pm my mother received on her phone a notification from the app “fires near me” which I also have but failed me about a bush fire only 5km away 😡
These mathematical equations aren’t too settling !!!!!!!
What has happened to this app “Fires Near Me” which not so long ago and may have been in “L” plate status or even “P” plate level was something I had no hesitation in looking at and deciding for myself to being a truly unreliable app????
So what is the most accurate and reliable information regarding the bush fire in the Sherwood area ?????? Thanks
These mathematical equations aren’t too settling !!!!!!!
What has happened to this app “Fires Near Me” which not so long ago and may have been in “L” plate status or even “P” plate level was something I had no hesitation in looking at and deciding for myself to being a truly unreliable app????
So what is the most accurate and reliable information regarding the bush fire in the Sherwood area ?????? Thanks
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Pretty Good! 🔥🔥🦄🍗
This app is extremely helpful and very useful. But sometimes the app is a bit slow and it needs an update soon, even though this is a problem, I would totally recommend this app to everyone!
Needs attending too
I thought this app was great, until a short time ago watching the news and said there’s a life threatening fire bout 45mins away from us... nothing on the app and hasn’t been at all. I’ve been checking regularly to check fire status near family in NSW. I understand firefighters are very busy but surely someone sitting in admin could do regular updates. A bit disappointed in this app now.
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So good!!
When we had a massive bush fire near me near Milton last year, it told me how big and far it was from me. It also said how big the fire was and that was really helpful. I def recommend this app for observing bush fires!
