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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 44 government feeds, in one schema. 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 dataquoll.io/signup. No credit card required. The integration only calls /api/v1/incidents/nearby, which the free tier allows up to 5,000 times a month for personal home use. At the default 10-minute interval it makes about 4,460 calls in a 31-day month. Faster polling, or more than one Home Assistant instance on one account, needs the Starter plan (A$9/month, 25,000 calls).

Step 2: Install via HACS

Open HACS in your Home Assistant, search for "DataQuoll", 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 "DataQuoll". 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 44 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 for personal home use at the default 10-minute interval or slower. The integration only calls /api/v1/incidents/nearby, which the free tier allows up to 5,000 times a month (about 4,460 at 10 minutes in a 31-day month). A 5-minute interval uses about 8,930 calls a month, which needs the Starter plan (A$9/month, 25,000 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. DataQuoll 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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