As strong winds pushed smoke from the Bemboka area bushfire east last week, many residents took to social media to check the accuracy of other fires appearing on the NSW Rural Fire Service’s Fires Near Me smartphone app.
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As the blaze grew in size, reports of smoke at Kalaru, Greendale and Morans Crossing appeared on the app as active fires on August 15, causing alarm to many residents.
You don’t expect to have bushfires in winter.
- Kalaru resident Josh Shoebridge
A long cloud of smoke stretching from the Bemboka area to the Pacific Ocean combined with reported fires on the app brought back memories of the quick moving March bushfire which destroyed over 60 homes.
After the initial report was declared a false alarm, Tathra resident Emma Britton took to social media saying it had “upset a lot of people who have just been through it all not so long ago”.
“My gosh that must bring back horrible memories for those in Tathra,” Bega’s Sophie Beaman posted below photographs of smoke above Tathra.
The Bega Valley Rural Fire Service soon posted to social media they had, “investigated reported fires at Kalaru and Doctor George Mountain with nothing found”.
“These smoke sightings appear to be from the Yankees Gap fire that is blowing easterly across the Bega Valley," they said.
Kalaru resident Josh Shoobridge said he witnessed as many as 30 cars driving along Blackfellows Lake Rd in search of the Kalaru false alarm, just 100 metres from his home.
“I was quite fearful, because we had only just gone through this with the March bushfire,” he said.
“Where the app said the fire was in Kalaru was very close to where it got to us in March.
“It was quite ominous, it looked closer than it was.
“You don’t expect to have bushfires in winter,” he said.
The RFS said “robust” updates for the app are currently being tested, and urged residents to report smoke as the app is “reliant on public information”.
An RFS spokesperson said the agency’s current testing phase of the updates will ensure the stability and security of the app.
In January this year the South Australian government dumped its emergency warnings app after it crashed during intense bushfire conditions.
According to the RFS, after a member of the public makes an emergency phone call reporting the presence of smoke, or suspected fire, the fire appears active on the application until firefighters arrive to assess the scene.
They said the chance “spotting may escalate a fire” means all reports are taken seriously until proven to be a false alarm, when they are then removed from the application.
While a fire may be classified as “out-of-control”, its alert level is the most critical piece of information for residents, they said.
Similar community concern was raised during the March bushfire when public access checkpoints appeared on the app as fires, confusing many residents, and rumours quickly spread among volunteer firefighters the app had been “hacked”.
