Australia To Use Twitter For Bushfire Alerts

Australia plans to use social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to offer early warning of bushfires.

Earlier this year, a devastating bushfire killed 173 people in the Australian state of Victoria and destroyed countless properties. The residents said they had little in the way of early warning of the blaze.

Now the government will change that, by using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to give early warnings. Victorian state premier John Brumby said:

"We’ll be providing more information to the community, like Twitter and Facebook – alternative means of communication to get the information out to the public."

"So that they’ve got better information from a variety of sources and if they need to make a judgment to go early, they will go and they will go early."

Previously, advice had been either to stay and try to defend the property against fire or go elsewhere. That’s now being changed to emphasize leaving.