Ever since MACS was officially launched on 21 Janauary 2010, after a trial period that commenced on 8 December 2009, there has been widesprad interest in the concept. A Management Committee for the period to 30 June 2010 was formed on 13th December 2009 at a meeting attended by members of the community.

Interest in MACS

Buchan Neighbourhood House in Gippsland, Victoria, is working towards implementing a MACS-type communication system. They have an established 'telephone tree' but have found it too slow and cumbersome to manage in practice.

More recently, Lake Macquarie Council expressed interest in the MACS concept. In conjunction with the SES, they lanched a major severe storm community education campaign in the lead up to - the 3rd anniversary of the June 2007 storm/flood event. As part of this, they encouraged residents Lake Macquarie residents to subscribe to the Australian Early Warning Network. (As explained on our System page, the EWN has kindly made their communcation system available for use by MACS, so if you subscribe to MACS you automatically subscribe to the EWN as well.)

As a follow on from this as part of Lake Macquarie Council's Sustainable Neighbourhoods program with comunity groups, they will be looking at ways in which the MACS concept can be of assistance, especially in 'at risk' areas.

National Emergency Warning System

'Emergency Alert' was launched on 2 December. It will only be used for major life-threatening emergencies and is an additional warning system.

You can read the full media release of the announcement by the Emergency Services Minister, Steve Whan, here.

The objective of MACS is to supplement and support other alert systems locally, including Emergency Alert.

NSW RFS has launched an iPhone Alert App.

Emergency Services Minister Steve Whan announced that NSW RFS launched an official RFS iPhone™ application designed to alert people
to bush fire activity in NSW.

‘Fires near Me’ is available to download free of charge from Apple’s Application store from today. More details here.

Emergency Services to be Independent

Following extensive consultation with stakeholders, the NSW Government has announced it has abolished the overarching department of Police and Emergency Services NSW. You can read the full media release of the announcement by the Emergency Services Minister, Steve Whan, here.