Introducing fire-relevant websites: the Google Australia Crisis Map

During the recent NSW bushfires Google extended their Crisis Map coverage to Australia.  There is a site which provides an overview map of Australia, currently showing information for five states (including Queensland), and a NSW map showing fire and some emergency events for that state.  The NSW site appears to be a beta site at present.

Similar icons used for Qld and NSW.  Some 'other emergency' information for NSW (the white icon).  All icons are clickable to retrieve basic information about the event.

Both sites show fire data drawn from the relevant fire agencies, using the same icons for Queensland and NSW as the Queensland Rural Fire Service's Current Bushfire Incidents website (you can find my overview description of this site here). However the permitted burn data from Queensland is not linked to this map.

The NSW site currently has satellite images from a few of the January fires, available as layers that can be individually selected, as well as links in the sidebar that zoom directly to particular satellite image overlays.

The overview site opens with a map of Australia, with options in the sidebar to zoom to particular states.  The sidebar provides a legend for the symbols used in each state.

The Australian overview site shows traffic levels for the capital CBD and nearby freeways for several states.

 From a bushfire information point of view, in its current state of development the site provides less information than the RFS Bushfire Incident Map website (no permitted burn locations), but with Google's resources behind it is one well worth monitoring for future developments.