Bushfire information for those who are Deaf or hearing impaired

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Friday, 18 October 2013 09:35am

Australia is in for a long hot summer. ABC local radio is the recommended source for emergency bushfire information. Below is a list of alternative sources for up-to-date information on areas at risk of bushfire for people who are Deaf or hearing impaired.

For teletypewriter users in need of emergency assistance, or to report a fire dial 106. Please note this is not an SMS service.

ABC Emergency

The ABC Emergency website offers a summary of alerts and warnings by state and territory. The site is updated frequently with information sourced from ABC Local Radio and ABC News.

ABC Emergency also features a guide to preparing a bushfire survival kit.

While the ABC broadcasts emergency videos with Auslan on ABC News 24, these are not made available on the ABC Emergency website. The New South Wales provides Auslan interpretation on its media briefings.

State and Territory fire services

Social media

Twitter users can use hashtags to follow tweets regarding fires in their local area. The easiest way to do this is to enter a hash (#) next to the name of a town where an emergency is taking place, for example #Springwood, into the search bar at the top of the screen.

It is also recommended that you follow local news sources, such as radio stations and newspapers, and your state/territory fire service.

Please note the information on social media is updated constantly, and details become out of date very quickly.

Mobile apps

Fires Near Me

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service has provided a website and smartphone app called Fires Near Me. Simply enter the postcode or suburb for anywhere in NSW or the ACT and a list of fire alerts with the distance from that location will be generated.

ownload the Fires Near Me app from iTunes and Google Play.

FireReady

The Victorian Country Fire Authority's FireReady app provides up-to-date information on fire incidents in Victoria and is available for Apple, Android, Windows and Blackberry devices.

Emergency AUS

The Emergency AUS app for iPhone and Android collates information from various emergency services nationally and allows users to set alerts for incidents in their local area.


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