In a life-threatening emergency call triple-0. People with a hearing or speech impairment should call 106 through a TTY or computer with a modem.
There's a change coming to how some warnings are being issued across the different states. You can read more about the Australian Warning System here.
Locate emergency service agencies relevant to your state or territory:
- Australian Capital Territory
- New South Wales
- Northern Territory
- Queensland
- South Australia
- Tasmania
- Victoria
- Western Australia
Australian Capital Territory
ACT Emergency Services Agency
The over-arching emergency agency. Visit the website to search for warnings and alerts in your location.
ACT State Emergency Service - call 132 500 for help
During a storm or flood event the ACTSES can temporarily repair your home to make it safe and prevent further damage.
ACT Rural Fire Service
The RFS responds to grass and bushfires in rural areas, and helps communities know what to do before, during and after a fire.
ACT Fire and Rescue
Fire and Rescue responds to different types of emergencies like building fires, hazardous materials incidents and even animal rescue.
ACT Ambulance Service
Emergency and non-emergency ambulance and paramedic services to the ACT community.
ACT Police
In addition to their primary function of working to prevent crime, ACT Police coordinates emergency and rescue operations and promotes road safety.
New South Wales
Rural Fire Service — call 1800 679 737 for fire information
Lead agency for preparing and protecting rural communities from bushfires.
NSW State Emergency Service — call 132 500 for assistance
Providing emergency assistance and warnings during floods and storms.
NSW Hazard Watch
Find current SES warnings across New South Wales. For emergency help in floods and storms, call the NSW State Emergency Service on 132 500
Fire and Rescue NSW
Responsible for responding to fire, rescue and hazardous material incidents in cities and towns.
NSW Ambulance
Providing on-location patient care and transport.
NSW Police Force
Preventing, detecting and investigating crime, promoting road safety and coordinating emergency and rescue operations.
Resilience NSW
Agency responsible for disaster recovery and building community resilience to future disasters.
Northern Territory
Secure NT
Information to help you to prepare, respond and recover from emergencies across the Northern Territory. You can view current bushfire warnings and fire ban notifications and the fire incident map.
Northern Territory Police
Preventing, detecting and investigating crime, promoting road safety and coordinating emergency and rescue operation.
Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service
Providing services including firefighting, rescue and community education services.
Northern Territory Emergency Service
Providing emergency response to storm and flooding damage, as well as rescue services.
St John Ambulance Northern Territory
Providing emergency and non-emergency ambulance services to the NT community.
Queensland
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services
Providing firefighting and rescue services as well as community awareness and education on fire and road safety issues.
State Emergency Service — call 132 500 for assistance
Helping the community cope with the impact of emergencies and road accident rescue.
Rural Fire Service
Covering rural areas with firefighting, fire prevention and community education services.
Queensland Police Service
Preventing, detecting and investigating crime, promoting road safety and coordinating emergency and rescue operations.
Queensland Ambulance Service
Providing emergency and non-emergency ambulance services to the Queensland community.
Get Ready Queensland
Educating Queenslanders on how to prepare for a range of hazards and natural disasters.
Queensland Reconstruction Authority
Lead government agency for coordinating infrastructure renewal and recovery within disaster-affected communities.
South Australia
South Australia Police
Preventing, detecting and investigating crime, promoting road safety and coordinating emergency and rescue operations.
South Australian Country Fire Service (CFS)
Providing fire warnings, firefighting and rescue services, as well as community education programs for rural South Australia.
South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service
Providing fire warnings as well as firefighting, rescue and community education services for towns and cities, including Adelaide.
State Emergency Service — call 132 500 for assistance
Providing emergency response to storm and flooding damage, as well as rescue services.
SA Ambulance Service
Provides emergency medical assistance, treatment and transport, non-urgent patient transport and high-quality patient care to the people of South Australia.
Tasmania
Tasmania Police
Preventing, detecting and investigating crime, promoting road safety and coordinating emergency and rescue operations.
Tasmania Fire Service
Providing warnings and responding to structural fires and bushfires, as well as other rescue and recovery activities across metropolitan and rural Tasmanian communities.
State Emergency Service — call 132 500 for emergency assistance
Providing emergency assistance and warnings during floods and storms.
Ambulance Tasmania
Providing emergency and non-emergency ambulance services to the Tasmanian community.
TAS Alert
Official emergency website that brings together information from emergency services and government agencies.
Victoria
VicEmergency Hotline — 1800 226 226
For all information on emergencies including fire, flood, storm, earthquake, beach closures and more.
Country Fire Authority (CFA)
Victoria's lead agency for bushfires and other fires in regional areas, as well as responding to road accidents, rescues and other emergencies.
State Emergency Service — call 132 500
Providing emergency assistance and warnings during floods and storms.
Fire Rescue Victoria
Fire and rescue agency covering the Melbourne metropolitan area and major regional centres.
Forest Fire Management Victoria
FFMV provides communities with information about fire restrictions and regulations, and around planned burns in parks, forests and public land.
Victoria Police
Works primarily to prevent, detect and investigate crime. It also promotes road safety and coordinates emergency and rescue operations. It is the lead agency for assistance after an earthquake.
Ambulance Victoria
Providing emergency response, patient transport and retrieval services to the Victorian community.
Western Australia
Emergency WA
Emergency WA is coordinated by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES). Visit the website for a map view of all current warnings in WA and for information on fire bans.
Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) — call 133 337 for emergency information
DFES is the lead agency in WA for bushfire, cyclone, flood, earthquake and tsunami alerts. It also collaborates with local communities and other government agencies to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from natural hazards.
State Emergency Service — call 132 500 for assistance
DFES is also the WA state emergency service, working with WA Police and St John Ambulance to assist with road emergencies and coordinate search and rescue both on land and at sea.
Western Australia Police
Preventing, detecting and investigating crime, promoting road safety and coordinating emergency and rescue operations.
St John Ambulance Western Australia
Providing emergency and non-emergency ambulance services in WA.
The Australian Warning System
The Australian Warning System (AWS) is the three-level alert system of warnings issued by state emergency services once an incident is underway. This means levels like Advice, Watch and Act and Emergency Warning are applied to all hazards including bushfires, storms, floods, cyclones, extreme heat and tsunamis.
AWS warning levels can result in overlapping alerts when the Bureau of Meteorology and the state emergency agencies (e.g. SES, EMV, QFES, DFES) issue warnings and advice for the same event. When you're deciding what to do in an emergency, you can combine useful and relevant information from both warnings.
Each state and territory has a different time-frame for introducing AWS warnings for other hazards as well as bushfires.
This is the time-frame as of June 2023:
- Victoria — all hazards issued under AWS
- NSW — all hazards issued under AWS
- Queensland — all hazards issued under AWS from 1st November 2023
- Tasmania — fires and flood warnings issued under AWS
- SA — fires, flood and heatwave warnings issued under AWS
- WA — fires and heatwave warnings issued under AWS
- NT — all hazards issued under AWS
- ACT — all hazards issued under AWS