Emergency Bushfire Warning Australia 

“It is too late to leave.” That is when the warning went from bad to horrifying

If people are wondering, the Australian emergency alert sound is designed to feel fear inducing and unnatural regardless of language background. It's fast, loud, has an ascending tone and cannot be confused with anything but danger. If you have a bad feeling of impending doom after hearing it, then it worked.

welcome to australia, where the the second rank on the bushfire charts is *high.*

I remember this warning. Made me so sad when it said you should bring your pets inside cause you think of all the animals that were going to die.

I live in New Zealand. The skies turned dark and orange and it was horrifying thinking of the terror happening to our neighbours

“The safest option is to take shelter indoors immediately.” *"IT IS TOO LATE TO LEAVE."* If I’m gonna be honest, yeah, this genuinely sounds like a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation and honestly I can’t imagine how bad this really was

1:18 "You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive. The safest option is to take shelter indoors immediately. It is too late to leave." I'm not Australian, I'm from a very far away place. But if I were in that situation, I would have already died of panic.

"You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive. The safest option is to take shelter indoors immediately. It is too late to leave." I'm so glad I live in a place where the fires didn't really touch

0:20 - Flour Bag - As an Aussie I just cant deal. Edit: Did a search for Omeo and Dinner Plain and see that there is a suburb called "Smoko".

“The heat is likely to kill you before the flames do” Welcome to Australia..

"You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive" having faced fires before and now having a wife and young kids in a fire prone area this line gives me chills

As an Australian, “it is too late to leave” is more or less a death sentence unless you are already WELL prepared

Fun fact, I heard multiple of these warnings while desperately driving home from Queensland to my farm in Victoria to defend it, every time I heard the warning I kept calm and followed direction, and I got sh!t done. Now that I’m listening to it without an urgency to act, I feel like my heart is going to explode and I can’t catch my breath, my hands are buzzing and I had to go and forcibly hug my cat (she spent the whole crisis once I got home locked in my bathroom with her carrier having regular evac drills, where I’d jog in with treats saying TIME TO GO and chucking treats into the carrier, she’s still good at it). No soul left undefended, ever.

I know from experience how scary this alert sound is. Speeding down the road in our fire truck we tuned to the radio, all we heard as everybody was moving out of the area was this tone as we were driving through, it gives the sense of we might not be coming home.

I remember being in the pool with my friends and then feeling ash falling on us. I live in an area that thankfully wasn’t touched significantly by this, but seeing the smoke and the destruction every day was horrific.

Us Australians literally had to be rescued from boats in the ocean, I'm not from Vic or NSW but I remember seeing it on the news, scary

I wasn’t disturbed until… *”its to late to leave”* but ngl I just had a nightmare about this.

This gave me so many memories of all the alerts. There would be one like every 10 minutes where I lived...

The amount of areas that bushfire is covering is *A LOT*

I gotta say the Australian emergency broadcast alarm sounds weird

1:12 God. I never thought something said in that monotonous tone would strike such an awful feeling in me. I paused, started it again, and the longer I listen the worse it gets. It becomes so visceral so quickly and suddenly you realize some of your neighbors, or yourself, are about to be part of the next tragic news segment.

"It's too late to leave" If I was in the car: yeah, we're fucked

I’m an Australian and in 2020 - 2021 there was a big bushfire between Warrnambool and Ballarat. I drove through that area after the fire, it was horrifying, everything and every house was burnt. Every tree every blade off grass.

*Some goverment office in Australia* The boss: Okay, any suggestions for the new alarm sound? The new guy: hey have you guys ever played metroid fusion

2 months later Covid hit. I still remembered Melbourne was choked by the smoke from these fires.

the smoke made my asthma flare up, was the sickest ive ever been other than the time i got severe sinusitis

I heard this while I was in bega at the end of 2019. The noise brings me back bad memories

I'm so glad this is over, it was darn horrifying, even though I wasn't in the effected area I still had the fire app and it was sometimes... kinda concerning where the fire was. It wasn't at me, but it was not too far away, they were mostly not bad fires but it still scared me knowing that I was somewhat surrounded with fires from any angle ready to come near me at any time.

To anyone affected by these bushfires, I am so sorry. I send all my condolences if you lost a loved one.

God, this reminds me of when I lived in Wodonga, back in like 2003 I think. It's terrifying to be a kid, and hear the warnings, see the damage on tv, and then to see embers and burning leaves falling from the sky into your backyard. One night the flames were getting close, I don't know how close, so my dad took me, my bro, and our cats to pick up mum from work. They argued in the car about whether they should leave, or stay home. I live up north now, where the biggest danger is cyclones. But bushfires will always scare me in a different way.

This is a top quality alert. It conveyed a lot of useful advice in an efficient manner. It was specific and clear. It emphasized the severity of the issue without being hysterical.

as an Australian, i can only imagine how many people must have heard similar alerts like this one during the bushfires last year thankfully I live an area that wasn't really hit by the fires but we got a lot of smoke still I hope fires that bad never happen again but unfortunately I think they will and they might even be worse

i remeber this, i live in australia so it scared the shit out of me

*You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive.* And *It is too late to leave, you must take shelter before the fire arrives.* Are the most unsettling things I’ve ever heard in any broadcast. So glad I don’t live in an area where wildfires like this are common.

This is one of the most disturbing emergency alerts from Australia. I didn’t hear this one firsthand because I was in a safe area but Jesus Christ the words “it’s too late to leave” and “the extreme heat will kill you before the flames do” would be so jarring to hear.

I remember seeing a huge black cloud of smoke from a Virgin Australia flight. Imagine having lunch with your cobbers and in a couple of seconds your house is engulfed in flames.

I can imagine someone making a beat with the alarm and go off about how badly we've done the Earth honestly

This was so scary, and boy did we have so many fire drills at school after this- the schools fire alarm is cinched into my mind. I still have the fires near me app, that thing was my best friend.

bro as a person in victoria, i’m so glad my area wasn’t affected by this bushfire, because this is possibly the scariest alert i’ve ever heard.

I had also an emergency broadcast on my phone while at the beach in the South Coast. The it suggested to evacuate North up the Coast.

Is it me or does that specific alarm send CHILLS down my spine

For what it's worth, "it is too late to leave" is common language for anything at our top "Emergency Warning" status - it is quite literally a "evacuation is too late" message. We don't use it just for bushfires, it has been used for floods when the evacuation time has passed. We have three levels of warning, with the middle "Watch and Act" being the one that says "you should very much consider leaving now" before it gets to... well, the above. And in the case of bushfires... well, the fact that our highest fire danger level is termed "Catastrophic" (or originally "Code Red" in Victoria, where this was) is a pointer to try and get people to evacuate very early, well before something like this happened. Still hecking scary to hear regardless... and it's reassuring to have had it played out on commercial radio too, when the usual direction is to tune to the local ABC... We learned a lot from 2009 (and indeed in 2019/20) about how rubbish and piecemeal our emergency management messaging was for things other than cyclones, and it's still getting there...

Fun fact: this is the alarm from the cyclone warning in 1990. And they use the one from 1990 except its pitch is a little bit shifted

i remember hearing this live for the first time. You instantly get that lump in your throat feeling, someone out there is in imminent danger and that situation is there reality.

As scary as it is, at least they don't sugar-coat it. They tell you all the ways you could be harmed and what you should do.

I’m not entirely sure why…but this video always gets me teary eyed…it’s weird

I got goosebumps while listening to this and I'm American

I remember I lived in the inner suburbs at the time, and at the time it was extremely hot and smelled like smoke outside. It was Terrifying, even though I didn’t live very close to the area affected by the fire. I am surprised it’s already been 2 years since this fire. It feels as if it was yesterday.

I've heard about this. I felt really bad for all the people and animals. 😢 And I thought the wildfires in California were bad, but in my honest opinion, this was even worse.

I heard the same thing scared the heck out of me

I'll never forget this, I lived at the time down in Nairne in the Adelaide Hills and the Cudlee Creek bushfire was north of us. By the time we decided to get the fuck out there was ash raining down on the town and it was extremely hot. As I watched the CFS map in the car and at the house we were driving to, the fire swung back north-east about 6 and a half kilometres away from our town, thank god... The towns the fire burned through were devestated, they are such resilient people.

yes, us Australians have places named *dinner plain, fools creek and flourbag* - spelt & pronounced exactly like that lol there's also a place in Queensland named Texas

I was here when this happened when I heard that "its to late to leave" I was balling my eyes out

Wow, I was driving from Sydney to Melbourne in January 2020 and I remember these radio broadcasts

I’m an announcer on 3NE’s sister station, 2QN. I fear the day I hear our journalist, or god forbid, I have to deliver a message like this.

"This Emergency Warning is being issued for Anglers Rest, Benambra, Bingo Munjie, Bingo Munjie North, Bundara, Cassilis, Cobungra, Dargo, Dinner Plain, Falls Creek, Flourbag, Glen Valley, Glen Wills, Hinnomunjie, Hotham Heights, Mayford, Nelse, Omeo, Omeo Valley, Shanahan, Shannonvale, Swifts Creek, Tongio, Wentworth, Wongungarra." Like I managed to catch that without looking up this exact warning transcript 💀

As an Australian, when it comes to being a koala, there’s no surviving that giant fire. Unless there’s a cool dude helping you out

God that advice is terrifying

I would shit myself if I heard "it is too late to leave" it got so terrifying after that

THIS GAVE ME GOOSEBUMPS

I was in nsw when this was happening, I had a friend come over to my house so we could play wii and it was 40 degrees outside. Glad we were safe

As an australian I have to say this is the scariest thing on the continent To all non Aussies that are on a trip when something like this happens please do what the broadcast says Fire is a very dangerous and unpredictable thing it can be going east then all of a sudden west what ever you do NEVER PLAY WITH FIRE in the SUMMER MONTHS OR AT ALL only during the winter you are allowed to light fires and if thay ever out of control CALL 000 and ask for fire fighters if you play with fire and it gets out of control without you know it could end hundreds of people's lives and impact the ecosystem drastically and damage the state so stay safe and obey the law

As An Australian Fires are normal Here But Rip the named cities: Anglers Rest, Benambra, Bingo Munjie, Bingo Munjie (North), Bandara, Dago, Dinner Plain, Falls Creek, Flower bag, Glen Valley, Glen Will, Hinnomunjie, hotham heights, Mayford, Omeo, Omeo Valley, Swiss Creek, Wentworth.

1:18 sends chills down the spine

Today I learnt that my old high school uses the Australian EAS alarm as a part of their lockdown and fire alarm system as they both sound identical. If you're wondering, the school itself is in Australia.

Towns affected (complete:) Anglers Rest, Benambra, Bingo Munjie, Bingo Munjie North, Bundara, Cassilis, Cobungra, Dargo, Dinner Plain, Falls Creek, Flowhag, Glen Valley, Glen Wills, Hinnomunjie, Hotham Heights, Mayford?, Nelse, Omeo, Omeo Valley, Shanahan, Shannonvale, Swifts Creek, Tongio, Wenworth, Wongungarra.

I live in the south of Victoria (australia) And the BUNYIP bushfires of 2019, did get close to me, if you have ever heard of this. But this is scary.

When I was a kid the emergency sound was played on the radio from time to time to let us know….. it terrified me every time I heard it

The one person who slept through all of that ☠️

Gosh, watching this in 2023 and how frighting this was… and then a couple of months after that.

Anglers rest, Benambra, Bingo Munjie, Bingo Munjie North, Bundara, Cassilis, Cobungra, Dargo, Dinner Plain, Falls Creek, Flour bag, Glen Valley, Glen Wills, Hinnomunjie, Hotham Heights, ?, Nelse, Omeo, Omeo Valley, Shanahan, Shannonvale, Swifts Creek, Tongio, Wenworth, Wongungarra

Their word choice was super strong and fear-inducing.

i remember the fires and the smoke it was terrible i was in perth i could see the sky turn pink

"It is too late to leave" Oh im f**ked up.

The frequency allocation on AM in Australia is interesting.

I remember when the bush fires were getting worse in 2020, my family would put on the tv watching ABC NEWS 24/7, everything was turning red playing that EAS. It wasnt just me that experienced this, my friends from different areas were also seeing the same thing. I legit thought that was the end but at least the government cared enough to protect it...

And that's how they knew 2020 wouldn't be great.

Everybody GANGSTA till she speaks the Sims language

this is happening on a worse scale now in Victoria, my friends are in the main affected town..

When the emergency alert says “shelter in the ocean” you know shits crazy

I was really scared for all the animals and people in Australia thank god the bushfires have calmed down now

bushfires mainly happen in summer if you are inside and want to escape do not take your car most roads will be closed and most deaths are caused by driving in fires smoke will make it difficult to see

Damn, I was so f***ing scared on that day I was in Victoria I saw the smallest of smoke in the distance lucky it didn’t reach where I was.

Now I am scared to go Australia because of that alarm

My family moved to NZ after the 09' fires when we were living in Bendigo.

This is why i joined the RFS.

All this places were near me… this was terrifying

Bushfire on Marth 3 2023 Ausstrla EAS Alarm Good Luck Suviad

I've been on Australia before and I heard this now I'm in usa

The way Australians say their words is so cute!! 😂

I live in New York My family lives in Australia and we were visiting when this was happening

"It is too late to leave." "Well, before the flames reach you." scary

I heard this on the way to falls creek with my sister and holy moly it was scary

I remember I saw fire smoke coming from a house and my mom saw it, I’m scared whether it’s gonna spread around our area because it’s a bit near

Other warnings stay calm Australia Connection terminated. I'm sorry to interrupt you, Elizabeth, if you still even remember that name, But I'm afraid you've been misinformed. You are not here to receive a gift, nor have you been called here by the individual you assume, although, you have indeed been called. You have all been called here, into a labyrinth of sounds and smells, misdirection and misfortune. A labyrinth with no exit, a maze with no prize. You don't even realize that you are trapped. Your lust for blood has driven you in endless circles, chasing the cries of children in some unseen chamber, always seeming so near, yet somehow out of reach, but you will never find them. None of you will. This is where your story ends. And to you, my brave volunteer, who somehow found this job listing not intended for you, although there was a way out planned for you, I have a feeling that's not what you want. I have a feeling that you are right where you want to be. I am remaining as well. I am nearby. This place will not be remembered, and the memory of everything that started this can finally begin to fade away. As the agony of every tragedy should. And to you monsters trapped in the corridors, be still and give up your spirits. They don't belong to you. For most of you, I believe there is peace and perhaps more waiting for you after the smoke clears. Although, for one of you, the darkest pit of Hell has opened to swallow you whole, so don't keep the devil waiting, old friend. My daughter, if you can hear me, I knew you would return as well. It's in your nature to protect the innocent. I'm sorry that on that day, the day you were shut out and left to die, no one was there to lift you up into their arms the way you lifted others into yours, and then, what became of you. I should have known you wouldn't be content to disappear, not my daughter. I couldn't save you then, so let me save you now. It's time to rest - for you, and for those you have carried in your arms. This ends for all of us. End communication.

I was there… YOU DONT KNOW WHAT IS WHAT LIKE!!!

I was on the XPT train to Sydney this day

I’ve heard this before. Most terrifying shit ever

damn someone named "Norme" which rates EAS alarms was in one of these

Australia reacts to a fire: medium panicking American reacts to a fire: beep beep warning on your phone good luck lol