EmergencyWA’s ‘technical difficulties’ resolved after residents left without access to bushfire information

WA’s bushfire emergency alert system is back working after a technical issue prevented residents from accessing vital information in the middle of five bushfire emergencies.

The system was thrown into chaos on Monday afternoon, as the EmergencyWA website and app experienced “technical difficulties” as multiple bushfires burn across the State.

By 3.45pm, a department of fire and emergency spokeswoman said the “EmergencyWA website and app are now operational again”.

“DFES will provide a statement later today. “

The tech failure occurred as firefighters battled out-of-control blazes east of Mandurah, northeast of Jurien Bay, north of Gingin, and at Brigadoon and Gidgegannup.

Lives and homes were at risk in each of the fires.

The EmergencyWA application, which has been heralded as a success, appeared to be experiencing issues from at least 2pm, showing either no emergency alerts or just burn-off locations.

In a statement published to Facebook, DFES confirmed there were “technical difficulties”.

“The Emergency WA website and app are currently experiencing technical difficulties.”

“DFES is working to get Emergency WA back online as soon as possible.”

“To keep up to date, listen to your local ABC radio, call 13DFES (13 3337).”

After being alerted to the situation by The West Australian, Emergency Services Minister Paul Papalia confirmed the system was experiencing issues.

“I can’t give you any information other than the system is down at the moment, (we), to ask people to pay attention to ABC radio alerts, and also if they need to seek information, they can call 13 DFES, which is 133337,” Mr Papalia said.

“We don’t know what’s caused it and they’re investigating, hopefully they get it back online as soon as possible.

“There is no good time for the system to go down in Western Australia, we are a third of the continent, any time of the year, we can be confronting emergency situations where we need this system up and running, and so, hopefully, they’ll get it back as soon as possible.”