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Integration

Home Assistant Integration

Get real-time Australian emergency data on your Home Assistant dashboard. Bushfires, floods, storms, earthquakes, rescues, and satellite hotspot detections from 34 government feeds across all 8 states and territories. Free to use.

What You Get

EntityTypeWhat It Shows
geo_location.emergencyapi_*Geo LocationEach incident as a pin on the HA map. Shows event type, status, distance, severity, and agency.
binary_sensor.emergencyapi_alertBinary SensorON when any incident exists within your radius. OFF when clear. Use this to trigger automations.
sensor.emergencyapi_incidentsSensorCount of active incidents within your radius.
sensor.emergencyapi_nearestSensorDistance to the nearest emergency in kilometres.

Polygon geometry is supported. Fire perimeters, warning zones, and flood boundaries from WA DFES, NSW RFS, and other agencies are passed through as entity attributes for custom Lovelace cards.

Installation

Step 1: Get a free API key

Sign up at emergencyapi.com/signup. No credit card required. The free tier includes 5,000 API calls per month. At the default 5-minute polling interval the integration uses about 8,640 calls a month, so set the interval to 10 minutes (about 4,320 a month) to stay on the free tier, or use the Starter plan (A$9/month, 50,000 calls) for faster polling.

Step 2: Install via HACS

Open HACS in your Home Assistant, search for "EmergencyAPI", and click Install. Restart Home Assistant after installation.

If you prefer manual installation, download the latest release from the GitHub releases page and copy the custom_components/emergencyapi/ folder to your HA config directory.

Step 3: Add the integration

Go to Settings > Devices & Services > Add Integration > search "EmergencyAPI". Enter your API key and set your monitoring radius (default: 50 km). The integration will start pulling incidents immediately.

Example Automations

The binary sensor makes it simple to trigger automations when an emergency is nearby. Here are three examples you can copy directly into your automations.yaml.

Send a phone notification
automation:
  - alias: "Emergency Alert Notification"
    trigger:
      - platform: state
        entity_id: binary_sensor.emergencyapi_alert
        to: "on"
    action:
      - service: notify.mobile_app_your_phone
        data:
          title: "Emergency Alert"
          message: >
            {{ state_attr('sensor.emergencyapi_nearest', 'title') }}
            is {{ states('sensor.emergencyapi_nearest') }} km away.
Turn on a red warning light
automation:
  - alias: "Emergency Red Light"
    trigger:
      - platform: state
        entity_id: binary_sensor.emergencyapi_alert
        to: "on"
    action:
      - service: light.turn_on
        target:
          entity_id: light.warning_light
        data:
          color_name: red
          brightness: 255
Voice announcement via Google Home
automation:
  - alias: "Emergency Voice Alert"
    trigger:
      - platform: state
        entity_id: binary_sensor.emergencyapi_alert
        to: "on"
    action:
      - service: tts.google_translate_say
        data:
          entity_id: media_player.living_room_speaker
          message: >
            Emergency nearby.
            {{ state_attr('sensor.emergencyapi_nearest', 'title') }}
            is {{ states('sensor.emergencyapi_nearest') }} km away.

Data Sources

The integration pulls data from 34 official government feeds including:

NSW
RFS incidents + CAP warnings, SES HazardWatch
VIC
OSOM incidents, CFA fire danger, EMSINA fire/flood/SES
QLD
ESCAD all incidents, bushfire alert warnings
SA
CFS, MFS, SES + community pager dispatches (ambulance, fire, SES)
WA
DFES incidents, warning areas, fire ban zones, CAP warnings
TAS
TFS, TasALERT multi-agency, CAP warnings, warning polygons
ACT
ESA all incidents (includes ambulance), fire danger ratings
NT
PFES incidents
National
DEA satellite fire hotspots, Geoscience Australia earthquakes

Full attribution details at /api/v1/attribution. See the Australian emergency data feeds guide for detailed information about each feed.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost?

Free if you poll every 10 minutes or slower. The free tier is 5,000 API calls per month (about 4,320 at a 10-minute interval). The default 5-minute interval uses about 8,640 calls a month, which needs the Starter plan (A$9/month, 50,000 calls). Multiple HA instances add up too.

How often does it update?

Every 5 minutes by default. You can configure this from 2 to 60 minutes during setup. Shorter intervals use more API calls.

Does it work outside Australia?

No. EmergencyAPI covers Australian emergencies only. The data comes from Australian state and federal government agencies.

Can I filter by incident type?

The integration pulls all incidents within your radius. You can filter in automations and dashboard cards using the event_type attribute (bushfire, flood, storm, earthquake, medical, rescue, hazmat, etc.).

Does it show fire boundaries or polygon areas?

Yes. Incidents that include polygon geometry (fire perimeters, warning zones, flood boundaries) pass the raw GeoJSON through as entity attributes (geometry_type and geometry_json). Custom Lovelace cards can render these as boundary overlays on the map.

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