22/02/2026
This is why I get steamed up about Alert SA app’s effectiveness.
From the Alert SA website
“What is the Alert SA app? The Alert SA mobile application is an initiative of the Government of South Australia that provides timely public information and warnings about fire, flood, severe weather, heatwave, and hazardous materials across the state. It is the only government-endorsed public information and warning application for South Australia.”
Yet today, as was the case when recent significant and severe thunderstorms impacted Port Pirie, there was flooding, damage or disruption to critical infrastructure and transport corridors, impacted regional communities and property owners, there were no warnings issued or information provided on the Alert SA app.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued the severe warnings today and released them via social media and their normal avenues of communication. The SES reissued some of these warnings (not marine) and has put them on social media as well today. Nothing has been posted on Alert SA. Image 1 screenshot shows the lack of current warnings as opposed to Image 2 screenshot of the private Busfire.io app, which show, the severe thunderstorm warning, marine wind warnings, and flood watch. These screenshots were taken at the same time.
Alert SA relies on geo spatial data. It know the user’s location, their watch zones, so if a user’s relevant area has a warning area created such as a severe thunderstorm warning, then the app notifies the user of the warning. This is something social media does not do. So unless you follow the Bureau or SES or whoever, you won’t be advised and it is totally dependent on the social media platform’s sharing algorithm. Critical emergency information may be overlooked or not received by the user of the app. Most other state emergency apps provide this capability. Images 3, 4 and 5 show interstate examples of Bureau of Meteorology warnings on their State apps.
Similarly, when a warning shape is issued by an emergency agency for Advice (Yellow), Watch and Act (Orange) or an Emergency (Red), if that warning area overlays an user’s watch zone, they will be notified. Fortunately these type of warning messages are populated on the app. Unlike other interstate apps in Victoria Tasmania, NSW and WA, important information like the fire boundary inside the warning area, is not ever published on the Alert SA app. If you need this information you have to access the CFS website State Incident Map if CFS has published this data.
Is there a solution and does the SA community need access to these warnings?
I used to be an emergency service worker and manager for 30 years within the SA Government. At State level operations you work in an information rich environment, and make decisions both operationally and strategically based on the quality of the information provided by incident management teams in the regions and field. You knew and understood the situation as you had access to all the available data information that influenced your decisions or actions. Without good information your ability to act or advise would be severely hampered.
At an individual level, a member of the public is reliant for emergency information that can affect their safety, from a trusted and reliable source. If the emergency service determines there is a risk to community safety they advise the impacted community accordingly. The Alert SA app is that vehicle the SA Government has provided to South Australians to facilitate this, as described in the second paragraph.
The Alert SA app should be the key emergency risk communication tool for emergency information and advice. As can be seen in Image 2, Bushfire.io manages to automatically populate their app with emergency advices other than just incidents. If you look at the incidents occurring on the Alert SA app you can find out that an emergency response has occurred, but there is no pre-warning of the situation, such as a flood watch or severe thunderstorm warning, unless an emergency agency chooses to place it on the app.
Don’t we as South Australians, have the right to know regardless of the emergency agencies’ sentiments, what emergency event could impact us?
Over to you SA Government and the emergency services.
Peter Malinauskas
Rhiannon Pearce MP
SA Country Fire Service
SA State Emergency Service
Alert SA
Penny Pratt MP
ABC Adelaide
