Thanks to a tip-off by our very own WPDownUnder App Developer, @Handiware - we were alerted this week to another quality Aussie Windows Phone App arrival in the marketplace. In our fair country, Summer and beach culture also heralds the commencement of the Australian Bushfire season. As tragic events have shown us in the past, bushfire threats to homes and communities are an all to real and frequent occurrence. Preparation and Information are two of the most critical elements in minimising risks to your family and selves. Now, with the official Victorian Country Fire Authority (CFA) Windows Phone App, you can have all the information you need in your hands with you on the go.

All we can say, is that you should ensure you grab this App before bushfire season arrives and support the Developer with feedback – to help improve this vital service for all.

Being for such a critical community service, we will forgive the App Design and UI elements not being fully optimised for Metro Windows Phone styling guides – and focus on the rich feature list the App delivers to Windows Phone.

FEATURES:

• Live incident map showing all current CFA and DSE planned burns, incidents and warnings issued for Victoria
• Push notifications to push out incidents and planned burns to a user’s phone when a new CFA or DSE incident or planned burn is received by the app and when the incident is within a ‘FireWatch’ zone (radius), set up by the user
• Image capture enabling sharing of geocoded photos by a user. Shared photos will immediately be made publicly available
• Integration of Department of Sustainability & Environment (DSE) planned burns
• GPS integration to determine your current location and surrounding incidents
• Emergency Warnings, Watch and Act, and Advice information as issued by the CFA and DSE
• Share incidents and warnings with friends and family
• View today’s Fire Danger Rating map
• View today’s Total Fire Ban Status
• Access official CFA FireReady materials including: – Household Bushfire Self-Assessment Tool – FireReady Kit – New Fire Ratings
• Watch the latest CFA video update
• Assess your FireReady status by completing the FireReady Checklist and share your result with friends and family
• Listen to the Standard Emergency Warning Signal (SEWS) used to alert the public before broadcast of urgent safety messages
• Contact the Victorian Bushfire Information Line (VBIL) for personal advice from operators

The Tutorial video is for the iFruit – however the App port to WP7 appears very similar:

WPDownUnder has yet to check all these features out – however based on the Marketplace description and video tour this looks like a quality addition to the marketplace for Victorians. Be fire safe!

Grab the App here – or click on the picture below! We hope the developer Gridstone will include their App in our DevelopedDownUnder catalogue for Aussies shortly!

Sheeds.