A WordPress plugin that displays real-time fire danger forecasts for Victoria, Australia by fetching data from official CFA (Country Fire Authority) RSS feeds.
- 4-Day Fire Danger Forecast - Shows current and upcoming fire danger ratings
- Multiple Districts - Support for all CFA fire districts across Victoria
- Automatic Updates - Data refreshes automatically twice daily (6 AM & 6 PM Melbourne time)
- WordPress Caching - Efficient performance using WordPress transient caching
- Responsive Design - Mobile-friendly interface with color-coded danger levels
- Multiple Display Formats - Table view, card view, and compact list layouts
- Customizable - Comprehensive admin settings for colors, borders, and visibility options
- Request Logging - Track last 50 data fetch requests with timestamps and status
Download the latest version:
Download CFA Fire Forecast Plugin (v4.8.1)
- Download the plugin zip file from the link above
- Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard
- Navigate to Plugins > Add New
- Click Upload Plugin at the top of the page
- Click Choose File and select the downloaded
cfa-fire-forecast-plugin.zip - Click Install Now
- After installation completes, click Activate Plugin
Display fire forecast for a single district:
[cfa_fire_forecast]
By default, this shows the North Central Fire District.
[cfa_fire_forecast district="south-west-fire-district"]
Display multiple districts in a side-by-side comparison table:
[cfa_fire_forecast districts="north-central-fire-district,south-west-fire-district,central-fire-district"]
north-central-fire-districtsouth-west-fire-districtnorthern-country-fire-districtnorth-east-fire-districtcentral-fire-districtmallee-fire-districtwimmera-fire-districteast-gippsland-fire-districtwest-and-south-gippsland-fire-district
district- Specify a single fire districtdistricts- Comma-separated list of districts for multi-district table viewlayout- Display format:table,cards, orcompact(overrides admin setting)show_scale- Show/hide the fire danger rating scale legend (default:true)auto_refresh- Enable/disable manual refresh button (default:true)
Layout Examples:
[cfa_fire_forecast layout="cards"]
[cfa_fire_forecast layout="table"]
[cfa_fire_forecast layout="compact"]
Access plugin settings at Settings > CFA Fire Forecast in your WordPress admin.
- Fire District - Default district to display
- Cache Duration - How long to cache data (300-43200 seconds)
- Update Frequency - Automatic update schedule (twice daily, hourly, daily)
- Color Scheme - Official CFA colors, high contrast, or minimal
- Show Rating Scale - Display the fire danger ratings legend
- Show Total Fire Ban Indicator - Show TFB warnings
- Show Last Updated Time - Display data refresh timestamp
- Show Manual Refresh Button - Allow users to manually refresh data
- Custom Header Text - Customize the forecast heading
- Display Format - Table view, card view, or compact list
- Number of Forecast Days - Show 1-4 days of forecast
- Table Header Background Color - Customize table header colors (with reset button)
- Border Style - None, minimal, normal, or bold borders
- Mobile Responsive - Enable responsive design for mobile devices
View the last 50 data fetch requests with:
- Timestamp (Melbourne time)
- District requested
- HTTP status code
- Response time in milliseconds
The plugin uses official CFA RSS feeds:
https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/cfa/rssfeed/{district-slug}-firedistrict_rss.xml
- WordPress 5.0 or higher
- PHP 7.4 or higher
- Uses WordPress transient API for efficient caching
- Default cache duration: 1 hour
- Automatic data refresh via WordPress Cron
- Minimal database queries
The plugin displays the following official CFA fire danger ratings:
- Low-Moderate - Fire can start and spread
- Moderate - Fires can spread, be prepared
- High - Fires will spread rapidly
- Extreme - Fires extremely difficult to control
- Catastrophic - Fires uncontrollable, leave immediately
Automatically detects and displays Total Fire Ban status for each district and day.
- Official CFA Colors - Uses authentic CFA fire danger rating colors
- High Contrast - Enhanced visibility for accessibility
- Minimal/Grayscale - Subdued color palette
- Table View - Grid layout showing all days side-by-side
- Card View - Responsive card-based design
- Compact List - Horizontal list format with hover effects
For issues, feature requests, or contributions, please visit the GitHub repository.
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
This information is for general reference only. Always check the official CFA website for the most current fire danger ratings and restrictions.
In case of fire emergency, call 000 immediately.
- Author: Shaun Haddrill
- Data Source: Country Fire Authority (CFA) Victoria
- Version: 4.2.0
This plugin supports automatic updates from GitHub! Once installed, WordPress will automatically check for new versions and notify you when updates are available.
How it works:
- Plugin checks GitHub repository for new releases
- Compares current version with latest GitHub release
- Shows update notification in WordPress dashboard
- One-click update from the dashboard
For developers: To release a new version, create a GitHub release with a tag matching the version number (e.g., v4.2.0).
- Added automatic update support from GitHub
- Plugin now checks for updates automatically
- One-click updates from WordPress dashboard
- Uses Plugin Update Checker library for reliability
- Fixed compact layout not working
- Corrected data structure in scraper
- Added district name to single district data
- Added logging settings section with enable/disable toggle
- Added log retention period options (7 days, 28 days, 1 year, indefinite)
- Automatic cleanup of old logs based on retention period
- Option to keep all logs indefinitely
- Added "Reset to Default" button for table header color
- Fixed display manual refresh button setting not saving
- Fixed card layout and compact layout not working
- Added new compact view with horizontal list format
- Improved layout switching functionality
- Fixed single district display table
- Fixed multi-district table empty cells
- Corrected data array access paths
- Fixed rating key references
- Multi-district table view support
- Comprehensive display and layout customization
- Data fetch request logging system
- Enhanced admin settings interface