How Australia combines modern tech and Indigenous knowledge to fight fire

Back at Yebra's centre, the team's work is particularly timely with weather forecasters predicting a super El Nino this summer - which could increase the probability of extreme heat, drought and bushfires."Our next fire season is looking like it's going to be a bad one," Yebra says.That concern is shared by Jason Heffernan, chief officer of the Country Fire Authority in Australia's southeastern state of Victoria. Here, the memories of 2009's Black Saturday bushfires – the country's deadliest on record – loom large."For this summer coming, we're bracing for what could be something extremely significant," Heffernan says. Even in the broader scheme of things, he notes that local fire seasons are starting earlier and lasting longer. "Unfortunately for Australia", he adds, "our environment is designed to burn."But as the world braces for wildfires that are more frequent and intense, Heffernan also believes "we must take a global perspective"."No fire service can do this on their own and the key is to have formal and trusted networks," he says - as well as national and international resource-sharing arrangements.One of the challenges as a fire chief, he explains, is knowing when to ask f...