My Bushfire Plan

The Department of Fire Emergency Services performs a critical role for the Western Australian public by coordinating emergency services for a range of natural disasters and incidents threatening life and property across the state. This includes informing and equipping residents for that ever-present Australian hazard: Bushfire. Remarkably, while 90% of WA residents live in a bushfire-prone area, only 34% believe they are at risk.

One resource that DFES has historically supplied is a Bushfire Preparedness Toolkit. Designed to be easy to complete, the kit was provided as a printed brochure or a PDF download. DFES realised that a quicker, more versatile, and engaging way to encourage bushfire preparedness  was to recast the toolkit as an interactive, digital dialogue.

DFES approached Hatchd and Adapptor in early 2020 to discuss how they could create an interactive version of the planning tool. This resulted in Hatchd and Adapptor collaborating with key people at DFES to conduct Discovery, Design and Scoping sessions to understand the needs, and design a solution.

To close the risk gap, the team faced a challenge: a big behaviour change was needed if they were to help WA residents think more carefully about bushfire, understand it could occur at any time, and convince them they need a plan.

Over several weeks the team met to define the vision for the service, and outline its functionality. Key goals were distilled:

  • Allow people to create, download, and access their bushfire plan at any time.

  • Inform, challenge, and empower people to create more robust bushfire plans, and educate them on why this is important.

  • Capture data and insights to continually improve the experience.

The team delivered a solution to meet these goals: a document detailing a website and companion app (iOS and Android) to educate people, help them choose the safest and most suitable plan for their situation, lead them step-by-step through creating that plan, and make it accessible at all times.

An interactive planning tool

Seamless access on any platform

Key to the delivery of the solution was a technical architecture that enabled seamless access of the tool on any device—desktop or phone, web or app. Hatchd and Adapptor combined to bring the web and app expertise to deliver this solution with a quick turnaround, and crucially ensure consistency across all platforms.

The choice of modern platforms and tools for backend, web, and mobile, enabled an incredibly cost effective solution, while ensuring it is robust and scalable. The React code framework, and its native incarnation, React Native, made possible consistency and judicious reuse.

A Sanity CMS hosts content that can be shared between the website and the apps, giving DFES a single place to manage the content for the service—FAQs, disclaimers, reminders and checklists. This integration allows DFES to keep content up-to-date and relevant.

For plans to be ready-to-hand, it is vital they automatically sync across the web, Android and iOS in real-time. Using a combination of Firebase Authentication’s anonymous and registered user features, and Cloud Firestore, a person can create an account and have their plan transparently sync across their devices. By delegating part of this complexity to robust SDKs, another key goal of the solution was supported: the ability to update plans offline, and have them sync automatically the next time they connect.

Creating a solid platform for growth

True preparation for bushfires requires that people conduct certain tasks throughout the year. From simple tasks like cleaning gutters and pruning shrubs, to complex activities like installing underground water pumps, they can all make the difference in averting disaster. Because these activities vary depending on a property’s location, the solution allows DFES to add, update, and schedule reminders based on regions across Western Australia through the shared CMS. These reminders are then delivered via push notifications at the right time to the right people.

Built on top of AWS Elastic Container Services and ElastiCache (an in-memory datastore), the solution scales automatically to support thousands of concurrent users, which would be likely in a real emergency. Load testing was conducted on backend services, stressing them well beyond expected load, and subsequent tweaks were made where testing indicated possible improvements.

Both the web and the apps share analytics definitions, which provide a unified view of how people are using the service. This gives DFES valuable insight into how it could be improved. These analytics are stored in Google’s BigQuery, providing a top-to-bottom view of the entire service if required in the future.

Throughout development, quality assurance leaned on Adapptor’s test service. Each sprint’s deliveries of web and app builds were scoured by a single team. Having visibility across all platforms, meant that any bugs and inconsistencies were raised, and quickly addressed to make sure the solution was delivered on time and in budget.

The launch

Launched by the Honourable Francis Logan MLA in November ahead of the peak bushfire season, the service can be accessed on the web at My Bushfire Plan, Google Play and App Store.

Features include:

  • Help to determine the safest plan for you.

  • Step-by-step guidance to create a plan in your own time, tailored to you, and the ability to save it for the future.

  • User account creation, so you can access your plan on the web or on multiple devices.

  • The ability to share your plan with your family.

  • Delivery of seasonal reminders to help you and your family prepare for bushfire season.

  • Delivery of notifications to prompt you to complete your plan.

  • Seamless offline access of your plan, whenever you need it.