Learning from the World: Global Advances Reshaping Emergency Services and What They Mean for Australia

■ Agencies worldwide face the same pressures we do: longer fire seasons, record floods, ageing fleets, stretched volunteers and tight budgets. ■ Seven areas of global advance matter most for Australia: AI, communications, volunteers and resources, fatigue and safety, ground and air appliances, asset availability and maintenance (including purchasing and inventory), and logistics. ■ The common thread is that leaders integrate rather than just adopt, building on shared data, cross-agency capability and trust.

■ Global experience also shows that every connected capability needs secure design, from public warnings to drones to telematics. ■ This edition adds lessons from recent major events overseas, a method for judging which practices transfer, how to adapt each area for Australia, cyber considerations by area, and a staged roadmap. Part 2 of my series on AI, climate extremes and the future of Australian emergency services In my last article I looked at the operational, safety, infrastructure and technology challenges facing Australian fire services and their partners in Police, Ambulance and the SES.

This time I want to look outward.

Agencies in North America, Europe and Asia are dealing with the same pressures we are. Many are trying new approaches. Some are succeeding, some are learning hard lessons, and almost all of it is relevant to Australia.

Earth at night from space. The pressures on emergency services are global, and so are the solutions. Source: Photo by Mara F, Unsplash Seven areas where global practice can accelerate Australian capability.

Source: Darren Covington Why look overseas? Australia has world-class emergency services, and other countries often look to us, particularly on bushfire, volunteer firefighting and national warning systems. But no country has all the answers.

Looking overseas lets us learn from investments others have made, avoid mistakes others have paid for, and spot technologies and practices before they become mainstream.

The aim isn't to copy. Every country's hazards, geography, governance and culture are different. The aim is to understand what problem each practice solves, why it works where it does, and what it would take to work here.

Lessons from recent major events overseas Several recent disasters overseas have reinforced lessons that apply directly to Australia: ■ Canada, 2023. Canada experienced its most severe wildfire season on record, with fires burning across almost every province and territory and tens of thousands of people evacuated. The season tested national resource sharing, international deployments (including Australian crews) and evacuation planning for remote and Indigenous communities at a scale few countries have experienced.

■ Maui, 2023. The August 2023 fire in Lahaina, Hawaii, was one of the deadliest wildfires in the United States in more than a century. Reviews raised hard questions about warnings, communications, evacuation routes and the management of wind-driven fire in urban areas.

■ Western Europe, 2021. Catastrophic floods in Germany and Belgium in July 2021 killed more than 200 people. In Germany, the event exposed weaknesses in how warnings reached people, and was followed by the introduction of a national cell broadcast warning system.

■ Los Angeles, 2025. The January 2025 fires in Los Angeles destroyed thousands of homes in wind-driven urban interface fires, testing water supply, evacuation and warning systems in a major city. The common lessons are familiar: warnings must reach everyone, quickly and through several channels; evacuation needs planning and rehearsal; infrastructure such as power, water and communications fails at the worst time; and national and international support must be able to plug into local systems.

Country snapshots Each country's approach reflects its own hazards and history. A brief look at five: United States. Emergency management is shared between federal, state, local and tribal governments, with FEMA coordinating federal support.

The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System brings together national warning channels, including Wireless Emergency Alerts to mobile phones. Large investments in wildfire detection, aviation and public safety broadband through FirstNet sit alongside significant challenges in wildland–urban interface fire. Canada.

Provinces and territories lead wildfire management, supported by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, which coordinates the sharing of crews, aircraft and equipment across the country and internationally. Alert Ready provides national public alerting to phones, television and radio. Recent record seasons have put remote and Indigenous community evacuations at the centre of planning.

European Union. Member states lead their own response, supported by the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, the rescEU reserve of shared capability, and the Copernicus Emergency Management Service, which provides rapid satellite mapping of disasters on request. EU law now requires mobile public warning systems in every member state.

Japan. Exposed to earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons and floods, Japan has invested heavily in early warning. Its nationwide J-Alert system can broadcast warnings rapidly through municipal loudspeakers, broadcasters and mobile phones, and its earthquake early warning system is among the most advanced in the world.

New Zealand. In 2017, New Zealand merged its urban and rural fire services into a single national organisation, Fire and Emergency New Zealand, with career and volunteer firefighters working within one structure. Its experience offers lessons on national integration, volunteer support and multi-hazard roles.

1,000+ AI cameras in California's detection network ~98% of Germany's THW members are volunteers 37% higher cardiac arrest survival when GoodSAM volunteers arrive first (Ambulance Victoria) 1. Artificial intelligence: from detection to decision support What's happening globally ■ AI-enabled detection networks. In California, the ALERTCalifornia network, run with CAL FIRE, uses AI to scan more than 1,000 mountaintop cameras and flag smoke, often before the first emergency call comes in.

■ Space-based fire detection. FireSat, backed by Google and the Earth Fire Alliance, launched its first operational satellites in July 2026. Germany's OroraTech has had a dedicated wildfire constellation in orbit since March 2025 and already supplies Australian land managers.

■ Ground sensor networks. European companies are trialling solar-powered "electronic noses" that can sense the gases from a smouldering fire under the forest canopy before any visible smoke. ■ AI-assisted dispatch.

Emergency call centres in Europe and North America are using AI to transcribe, translate and triage calls in real time. What it means for Australia. We have the vast, remote terrain and lightning-driven ignitions where early detection pays off most.

A nationally coordinated detection layer, combining satellites, cameras and sensors and feeding every state agency, would be one of the highest-value investments we could make. It must be secured as critical infrastructure, because a detection network that can be blinded or spoofed is worse than none. How to adapt it for Australia ■ Prioritise remote detection, where ignitions can grow unseen for hours, and integrate satellite, camera and lightning data into a single national service.

■ Test in Australian fuels and conditions, because detection algorithms trained elsewhere may struggle with eucalypt smoke, dust or agricultural burning. ■ Plan the response, not just the detection. Faster alerts only help if crews and aircraft can act on them.

■ Govern AI dispatch tools carefully, with human oversight and testing on Australian accents, languages and call patterns. Why detection speed matters Fires grow rapidly once established, particularly in severe weather. A fire detected and attacked while small can often be contained by a single crew or aircraft; the same fire found hours later may need dozens of crews and days of effort, and may threaten lives.

Faster detection doesn't just reduce losses. It also reduces the number of large, long campaign fires that exhaust crews and resources. That is why so much global investment is going into cameras, sensors and satellites.

Space-based capability in more depth Satellites are becoming one of the most important tools in emergency management. Three kinds of capability matter most: ■ Detection: thermal sensors on satellites can spot new fires, and dedicated constellations are reducing the time between satellite passes from hours to minutes. ■ Mapping: radar and optical satellites map fire scars, flood extent and damage, even through cloud and smoke in the case of radar.

Europe's Copernicus Emergency Management Service shows the value of rapid, on-request mapping during disasters. ■ Communications: low-earth-orbit satellite networks now provide backup connectivity for command vehicles, evacuation centres and isolated communities when terrestrial networks fail. Australia already uses satellite data extensively, including through services such as Digital Earth Australia Hotspots.

The opportunity is to combine detection, mapping and communications into an integrated national capability, with secure access for every agency and clear arrangements for sovereign control of critical data. 2. Communications: resilient, interoperable and space-enabled What's happening globally ■ Dedicated public safety broadband.

The United States' FirstNet gives police, fire and EMS priority access to a dedicated network. The UK's Emergency Services Network is a long-running reminder of what happens when ambition gets ahead of delivery: years of delay and billions of pounds in cost growth. ■ Mobile public warnings.

EU law has required mobile public warning systems since June 2022, mostly delivered by cell broadcast, although rollout has been uneven. ■ Australia is catching up. AusAlert, Australia's national cell broadcast system, completed its national test in July 2026 and is available from October 2026.

■ Low-earth-orbit satellite connectivity now restores command and community connectivity within hours when terrestrial networks fail. ■ Frontline apps tied to satellite. Agencies are equipping crews with integrated mobile apps for tasking, location sharing, situational awareness and reporting, designed to keep working offline and to connect over satellite when terrestrial networks fail.

What it means for Australia. Resilience means several fallback layers, not a single system. Frontline volunteers and staff need integrated, fit-for-purpose apps that work over satellite as well as mobile networks, so real-time decisions can be made where the work is done.

Interoperability across fire, Police, Ambulance and SES has to be designed in from the start, and major national programs need tight, independent delivery assurance. The national Public Safety Mobile Broadband program and AusAlert should be treated as critical national infrastructure, with strong authentication so that only authorised agencies can issue warnings. How to adapt it for Australia ■ Layer the network: dedicated public safety broadband, commercial networks with priority access, satellite backup and hardened radio, each covering the others' gaps.

■ Learn from the UK: keep existing systems running until replacements are proven, and use independent assurance on large programs.

■ Protect the warning channel: AusAlert's authority depends on its integrity. Strong authentication, audit and rapid correction processes are essential. ■ Equip the frontline: one integrated app for crews, connected over satellite terminals on appliances and direct-to-device messaging where available, co-designed with volunteers and staff.

■ Reach everyone: cell broadcast reaches most phones, but not everyone has one or keeps it on. Combine it with radio, sirens where appropriate, door-knocking and community networks. What the best warning systems share Looking across countries, the most effective public warning systems share several features: ■ Multiple channels, including cell broadcast, apps, broadcast media, sirens and outdoor speakers, social media and personal contact, because no single channel reaches everyone.

■ Consistent language across hazards and agencies, so people know what each level means and what to do. ■ Precise targeting, so warnings reach the people at risk without causing unnecessary alarm elsewhere. ■ Speed, with clear authority to issue warnings quickly and templates that can be adapted in minutes.

■ Accessibility, including multiple languages, plain English and formats for people with disability. ■ Trust, built through accuracy over time, so people act when a warning comes. ■ Testing and education, so the public recognises warnings and knows how to respond.

3. Volunteer and resource management What's happening globally NSW Rural Fire Service tankers assembled for deployment. National, real-time visibility of capability would strengthen surge response.

Source: Photo by Darren Covington ■ Germany's THW, a federal civil protection agency in which around 98% of members are volunteers, shows how a national volunteer model can deliver specialist capability at scale, backed by strong legal protections for volunteers' employment.

■ On-demand volunteering. Digital platforms register, credential and deploy volunteers quickly. Ambulance Victoria's GoodSAM program found cardiac arrest patients were 37% more likely to survive to hospital discharge when GoodSAM responders arrived before paramedics.

■ Shared resource ordering. The US Interagency Resource Ordering Capability and Canada's CIFFC move crews and aircraft across agencies with common standards. Europe's rescEU maintains a shared reserve of aircraft and capability.

What it means for Australia. Flexible volunteering, digital credentialing and national, AI-supported visibility of capability would strengthen surge response. Volunteer platforms hold personal information about thousands of people, so privacy and security must be built in.

How to adapt it for Australia ■ Make volunteering flexible, with options for episodic, skills-based and spontaneous volunteering alongside traditional brigade membership. ■ Protect volunteers' jobs and incomes, drawing on models like Germany's legal protections, through employer support and recognition schemes. ■ Digitise credentials, so a volunteer's qualifications are visible and portable across agencies and jurisdictions.

■ Build national resource visibility that shows what crews, appliances and aircraft are available across the country, in real time. Volunteer models compared Countries organise volunteer emergency services in very different ways: ■ Australia relies on large volunteer brigades and units, particularly in rural fire services and the SES, embedded in local communities. ■ Germany combines volunteer fire brigades in most towns with the federal THW, where volunteers provide specialist technical capability nationally.

■ The United States has many local volunteer fire departments, often combined with career departments in larger cities. ■ New Zealand brings career and volunteer firefighters together in one national organisation. Each model has strengths.

The common challenges are also similar: changing work patterns, ageing membership, rising training requirements and the need to balance volunteering with work and family. Countries that are holding up best tend to offer flexible ways to contribute, strong legal and employer support, and modern tools that respect volunteers' time. 4.

Fatigue and safety: data-driven protection What's happening globally ■ Cancer and contaminants. In 2022 the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified occupational exposure as a firefighter as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1). Sweden's "Skellefteå model" of separating clean and contaminated gear has been widely adopted.

■ Wearables track core temperature, heart rate and exposure, alerting commanders before a crew member reaches a dangerous threshold.

■ Structured work-rest rules and scheduling tools manage fatigue across long deployments. What it means for Australia. Presumptive cancer legislation already exists across Australian jurisdictions, and NSW expanded its list to 22 cancers in 2026.

The next step is prevention: fatigue analytics, exposure tracking and wellbeing support built into rostering. That data is highly sensitive health information and must be protected accordingly. How to adapt it for Australia ■ Prevention first: adopt clean-and-dirty separation, on-scene decontamination and clean cab practices across career and volunteer services.

■ Measure exposure: record smoke, heat and critical incident exposure over a career, with strong privacy protections. ■ Fatigue as a system: link rostering, deployment and travel data to manage fatigue across agencies, not just within one. ■ Co-design wearables with crews and unions, so data is used to protect people, not to monitor them.

Mental health: learning from others Many countries are investing in the psychological health of emergency workers, with peer support programs, trauma-informed leadership, regular check-ins after critical incidents, and support for families. The most effective programs are proactive rather than waiting for people to ask for help, are trusted because they are confidential, and extend to volunteers as well as career staff. Australian agencies have strong programs of their own, and international experience can help refine them, particularly for volunteers who may be isolated from support after returning home.

5. Cross-functional ground and air appliances What's happening globally ■ Electric and hybrid fire appliances are now operating in Los Angeles, Vancouver and Berlin, with trials in Amsterdam and Dubai. They reduce diesel exhaust exposure for crews, lower running costs and can serve as mobile power sources during outages.

■ Multi-hazard vehicles. Agencies are buying appliances designed for fire, flood and rescue: high-clearance vehicles, amphibious platforms and modular builds that can be reconfigured between seasons. ■ New-generation aerial firefighting.

Six EU countries have ordered new DHC-515 water-scooping aircraft, with twelve funded through rescEU. Night-time aerial firefighting with night-vision-equipped helicopters is expanding in the US and Australia. ■ Autonomous aircraft.

Sikorsky and Rain demonstrated an autonomous Black Hawk finding and suppressing test fires in 2024, followed by live-fire trials in California in 2025. ■ Drones as first responders. US police departments such as Chula Vista launch drones automatically to emergency calls, often arriving before ground units and streaming live video to dispatchers.

The model translates directly to fire and ambulance triage. ■ Robotics. Remote-controlled firefighting robots are being used for high-risk structure fires, hazmat and tunnel incidents, keeping crews out of the most dangerous areas.

What it means for Australia. The big opportunity is treating ground, air and uncrewed assets as one integrated system rather than separate fleets owned by separate agencies. A drone deployed by the SES in a flood should be able to share imagery with Police, Ambulance and fire services in real time.

Australia's sovereign aerial capability, including the NSW RFS's own Boeing 737 large air tanker, the Marie Bashir, and the national arrangements through NAFC, gives us a base to build that integration on. Connected appliances and aircraft also need secured telematics and command links. A firefighting helicopter works above smoke in New South Wales.

Aerial firefighting is being transformed by new aircraft, night operations and autonomy. Source: Photo by Darren Covington How to adapt it for Australia ■ Trial electric and hybrid appliances in urban services first, where duty cycles and charging infrastructure suit them, and test their role as mobile power sources during outages. ■ Design for multi-hazard roles, with high clearance, flood capability and heat tolerance.

■ Integrate the fleet of ground, air and uncrewed assets across agencies, with shared tasking and imagery. ■ Build on sovereign aerial capability and national arrangements through NAFC. Drones as first responders: what Australia would need Bringing the drone-as-first-responder model to Australian emergency services would require approvals for routine beyond-visual-line-of-sight flights in populated areas, automated launch sites at stations or on vehicles, integration with computer-aided dispatch so drones launch automatically to suitable calls, clear privacy rules for imagery, and airspace arrangements with helicopters and other aircraft.

Urban fire and ambulance services would be natural places to start, where call volumes are high and early video could change the response. Electric appliances: practical questions Agencies considering electric or hybrid appliances need to answer practical questions: Will range and pumping endurance meet operational needs, especially in long incidents? Where will vehicles charge, and what happens during a power outage?

How will crews be trained to manage high-voltage systems after a crash or fire? What is the whole-of-life cost compared with diesel? Starting with urban services and short-duty roles allows these questions to be answered with real data.

6. Asset availability, maintenance, purchasing and inventory What's happening globally ■ Fleet telematics. Modern appliances stream engine, pump and system health data in real time.

Predictive maintenance models flag likely failures before a vehicle breaks down on the way to an incident. ■ Aviation-grade maintenance practices. Aerial firefighting operators use digital maintenance records, predictive analytics and digital twins of aircraft to maximise availability during peak seasons.

■ Equipment lifecycle tracking. RFID tags on breathing apparatus, PPE, hoses and rescue equipment automate inspection schedules, contamination tracking and compliance. ■ Aviation contracting and availability.

In the United States, federal land management agencies secure large air tankers and helicopters through a mix of exclusive-use and call-when-needed contracts, balancing guaranteed availability against cost. Europe's rescEU pools aircraft so member states share the cost of capability none needs every day. ■ Joint purchasing and common specifications.

Agencies that buy appliances and equipment to common specifications, often through shared contracts, get better prices, faster delivery and parts that are interchangeable across fleets and jurisdictions. ■ Real-time inventory. Humanitarian and defence logistics organisations use real-time stock visibility and demand forecasting to keep critical supplies where they will be needed.

■ Resilient facilities. Stations and operations centres with backup power, water and communications keep operating through outages, and some double as community refuges during events. What it means for Australia.

Readiness is a measure of how much capability is actually available, not just what's on the asset register. Predictive maintenance across career and volunteer fleets, many of them spread across remote brigades and units, could significantly increase availability during peak demand and make better use of limited capital budgets. Telematics platforms must be secured, because a compromised fleet system could take appliances off the road.

The same thinking applies across every asset class. Operational capability is people, assets, facilities and supplies, ready together, and global practice points to four steps for Australia: ■ Ground fleets: whole-of-life fleet management, common specifications across agencies, and predictive maintenance that supports volunteer brigades rather than adding to their workload. ■ Aviation, fixed and rotary wing: a national, real-time view of which aircraft are serviceable, where and for how long, combining maintenance, crew and contract data, building on the arrangements already coordinated through NAFC.

■ Facilities: condition monitoring and climate-risk planning for stations, depots, airbases and operations centres, with backup power and communications prioritised for the most critical sites. ■ Purchasing and inventory: joint purchasing where it makes sense, demand forecasting tied to the seasonal outlook, and shared visibility of critical stock such as breathing apparatus, PPE, fuel, retardant and spare parts. How to adapt it for Australia ■ Start with telematics on high-value and high-use appliances, then expand.

■ Support volunteer brigades, which often manage maintenance with limited time and resources.

■ Track safety-critical equipment such as breathing apparatus and personal protective equipment, including contamination status. ■ Secure the data, treating fleet systems as operational technology. ■ Report readiness by capability, covering appliances, aircraft, facilities and critical stock, not just asset counts.

Predictive maintenance in practice: a simple start An agency doesn't need a sophisticated platform to begin. A practical sequence: 1 Fit telematics to a small number of high-use appliances and collect engine, pump and fault data for a season. 2 Combine it with maintenance records to identify which faults tend to precede breakdowns.

3 Set simple alerts, such as unusual temperatures or pressures, that prompt an inspection. 4 Plan servicing around the season, using the data to bring forward work on appliances most at risk. 5 Measure the result: fewer breakdowns during responses and higher availability on high-risk days.

As the data grows, more advanced predictive models can be added. The important thing is to start collecting and using the data now. 7.

Logistics: moving the right resources to the right place What's happening globally ■ Predictive pre-positioning. US and European agencies use forecast-driven models to stage equipment, supplies and crews ahead of hurricanes, floods and fire weather. ■ Drone logistics.

Medical drone delivery networks, pioneered in Rwanda and Ghana and now expanding in the United States, show how blood, medicines and critical supplies can reach isolated communities when roads are cut. ■ Humanitarian supply chain technology. Global humanitarian organisations use real-time inventory visibility, shared warehousing and AI-based demand forecasting to supply disaster zones efficiently.

■ Field fabrication. Mobile 3D printing is being trialled to produce replacement parts and specialised equipment close to the point of need. What it means for Australia.

Our geography makes logistics a defining challenge. Communities isolated by floodwater for days or weeks, long supply lines and dispersed volunteer stations all call for smarter logistics. Shared multi-agency logistics platforms, with fuel, food, medical supplies, sandbags, PPE and spare parts visible across agencies and jurisdictions, would reduce duplication and speed up support to isolated communities.

How to adapt it for Australia ■ Pre-position for isolation: stockpile supplies for communities known to be cut off by floods, before the wet season. ■ Trial drone delivery of medical supplies and small items to isolated communities and crews. ■ Share logistics visibility across agencies and jurisdictions, so supplies are not duplicated or missing.

■ Partner with industry, including freight, mining and retail companies with strong logistics networks in regional Australia.

A method for judging what transfers Not every promising overseas practice will work here. A simple method for judging transferability: 1 What problem does it solve? Is that problem significant in Australia?

2 What is the evidence? Has it been independently evaluated, or is the evidence mainly from suppliers? 3 What made it work there?

Funding, legislation, geography, culture, density, existing infrastructure? 4 What is different here? Distance, volunteers, federation, climate, fuels, population?

5 What would it cost, including ongoing costs, training and security? 6 How can we test it? A pilot with clear measures in Australian conditions is usually the right first step.

Learning from humanitarian logistics International humanitarian organisations have spent decades learning how to supply disaster zones with limited infrastructure. Their practices include pre-positioned regional warehouses, standard kits that can be deployed quickly, shared logistics clusters where agencies coordinate rather than compete for transport, and real-time tracking of supplies from warehouse to beneficiary. Australian emergency services, working with charities, local government and industry, could adapt many of these practices for domestic disasters, particularly for isolated communities.

Cyber security at the core: lessons from the global picture Cyber security at the core: secure by design, not bolted on. Source: Darren Covington

Across all seven areas, one lesson recurs: every connected capability is also an attack surface. Detection networks, warning systems, volunteer platforms, health data, telematics and drones all need secure design, from procurement to operation. What the leading organisations do: ■ Secure warning channels so that only authorised, authenticated agencies can issue public alerts.

■ Treat detection and sensor networks as critical infrastructure, with monitoring for tampering and spoofing. ■ Protect personal and health data of volunteers and crews under strong privacy and sovereignty controls. ■ Write security into procurement for every vehicle, aircraft, drone and platform.

■ Share threat intelligence across agencies and with national cyber authorities such as the Australian Signals Directorate. Cyber considerations by area ■ AI and detection: protect sensor networks and models from tampering, spoofing and data poisoning. ■ Communications and warnings: strong authentication, monitoring and rapid correction for public warning systems.

■ Volunteer platforms: protect personal information, with multi-factor authentication and careful access control. ■ Health and safety data: treat exposure and wellbeing data as highly sensitive health information. ■ Appliances and aircraft: secure telematics, command links and maintenance systems.

■ Logistics, purchasing and inventory: secure supply chain, purchasing and inventory platforms, and control supplier access. “Leaders integrate. They don't just adopt, and they secure what they integrate.” Australia's role in the world Learning is not one-way.

Australia contributes significantly to international emergency management: ■ Deployments. Australian firefighters and incident management personnel have deployed to Canada and the United States during major fire seasons, and international crews have supported Australia in return. ■ Expertise.

Australia's experience with bushfire, volunteer firefighting, fire danger rating and community warnings is widely studied overseas. ■ Research. Australian researchers contribute to global understanding of fire behaviour, climate extremes and community resilience.

■ Regional support. Australia supports disaster preparedness and response across the Pacific and Southeast Asia. These relationships are an asset.

They give Australian agencies access to experience and capability far beyond their own, and they create opportunities for joint research, shared standards and coordinated investment.

What Australia already does well It is worth recognising where Australia leads: ■ A national fire danger rating system grounded in science and consistent across the country. ■ A national warning framework with consistent levels and calls to action across hazards. ■ A large, committed volunteer workforce, embedded in communities across the country.

■ National aviation arrangements that share firefighting aircraft between jurisdictions. ■ A common incident management system used by most agencies. ■ A national cell broadcast capability, AusAlert, now available.

The global practices in this article should build on these strengths, not replace them. Funding and governance overseas How countries fund and govern emergency services shapes what they can achieve: ■ National funding for national capability. Several countries fund shared capabilities, such as detection networks, aviation reserves and warning systems, nationally, while local agencies manage response.

■ Pooled capability across borders. The EU's rescEU reserve shows how jurisdictions can share the cost of expensive capability, such as aircraft, that none needs every day. ■ Long-term programs.

Major capability programs, such as public safety broadband, require stable, multi-year funding and strong delivery governance. ■ Independent assurance. Large programs benefit from independent review, as the difficulties of some international communications projects show.

For Australia, the lesson is that national investment in shared capability, combined with state and territory delivery, can achieve more than each jurisdiction acting alone. Barriers to adopting global practice ■ Context differences: what works in a dense European country may not work across remote Australia. ■ Supplier claims: evidence from vendors should be tested independently.

■ Fragmented decision-making: with eight jurisdictions, national adoption needs coordination. ■ Short-term funding: pilots can stall without a pathway to sustained funding. ■ Security and sovereignty: overseas platforms may store or process data outside Australia, which must be assessed carefully.

Illustrative scenario: global lessons in action The following scenario is illustrative and set a few years in the future.

Early summer. A national detection service, combining satellites, AI cameras and lightning data, flags a new ignition in remote country within minutes. The alert reaches the state's duty officer, who dispatches a crew and an aircraft while the fire is still small.

The same afternoon. In a city, a drone launches automatically from a fire station to a reported house fire, streaming video to the responding crew, who arrive knowing the fire's location and that a person is at a window. Mid-season.

A long campaign fire stretches local crews. National resource visibility shows trained crews available in two other states and New Zealand, matched by qualifications and fatigue. They arrive with digital credentials that let them log into the host state's systems on day one.

Late season. Flooding isolates several communities. Supplies pre-positioned before the wet season sustain them, and drones deliver urgent medicines to one town until roads reopen.

Warnings reach residents through AusAlert, radio and community networks, in several languages. Each step reflects a practice already proven somewhere in the world, adapted to Australian conditions and secured by design. The common thread: integration, data and trust Across every one of these areas, the countries making the most progress share three characteristics: 1 They invest in shared data foundations, with common standards that let fire, Police, Ambulance and civil protection agencies see the same picture.

2 They integrate capability across agencies and jurisdictions rather than optimising each organisation in isolation. 3 They build trust, with their workforce through co-design, with communities through transparency and security, and with government through disciplined delivery and governance. Australia doesn't need to start from scratch.

We can adopt what works, avoid the mistakes others have already made, and adapt global innovation to our conditions: our volunteers, our vast landscapes and our federated system. Building international partnerships International relationships are most valuable when they are built before a crisis. Practical ways to build them: ■ Staff exchanges and secondments with counterpart agencies in North America, Europe, New Zealand and Asia.

■ Joint exercises that test how international crews and incident management teams integrate. ■ Shared research on fire behaviour, detection, warnings and responder health. ■ Common standards for qualifications, equipment and data, so international support can plug in quickly.

■ Structured learning visits after major overseas events, with findings shared across Australian agencies. These partnerships also bring security considerations. Sharing data and systems with international partners requires clear agreements on what is shared, how it is protected and who can access it.

What leaders should do next ■ Pick two global practices to pilot this season, such as AI camera detection or fatigue-aware rostering. ■ Join national efforts on detection, warnings and Public Safety Mobile Broadband. ■ Build security, privacy and sovereignty requirements into every new platform and procurement.

■ Learn from others' mistakes, especially on large communications programs. A staged roadmap First 90 days ■ Identify the two or three global practices most relevant to the agency's biggest risks. ■ Assess them using the transferability method above.

■ Connect with international counterparts through AFAC and existing networks. First year ■ Run pilots of the chosen practices, with clear measures. ■ Contribute to national work on detection, warnings and public safety broadband.

■ Write security, privacy and sovereignty requirements into every new procurement. Years two to three ■ Scale successful pilots and share results nationally. ■ Build international partnerships for joint research, exercises and resource sharing.

■ Review the global landscape regularly for new practices worth testing. Measuring success ■ Pilots completed and evaluated, with results shared. ■ Practices adopted that measurably improve detection, warnings, safety or readiness.

■ Time from global innovation to Australian trial. ■ Security and privacy compliance of new capabilities. ■ Operational capability: availability of appliances, aircraft and critical facilities on high-risk days.

Questions for boards and executives ■ Which overseas practices could most improve our community's safety? ■ How do we judge whether a practice will work here before investing? ■ What are we learning from recent disasters overseas, and how are we acting on it?

■ How do we protect the new capabilities we adopt from cyber threats?

Glossary ■ Cell broadcast: technology that sends a message to every compatible phone in an area, without needing phone numbers. ■ FirstNet: the United States' dedicated public safety broadband network. ■ Public Safety Mobile Broadband: Australia's national program for priority mobile data for emergency services.

■ rescEU: the European Union's shared reserve of disaster response capability. ■ Telematics: systems that collect and transmit data from vehicles and equipment. Further reading ■ European Union, European Electronic Communications Code (public warning requirements).

■ International Agency for Research on Cancer, Monographs Volume 132: Occupational Exposure as a Firefighter (2022). ■ Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, Report (2020). ■ Australian Signals Directorate, Essential Eight Maturity Model.

What global examples should Australia be learning from? #EmergencyManagement #AI #CyberSecurity #ClimateResilience #FireServices #SES #Ambulance #Policing #PublicSafety #Volunteers #Innovation #Australia Darren Covington writes on intelligence-driven emergency services, climate resilience, technology and cyber security in Australia. Photo credits: Mara F / Unsplash; Darren Covington.

Unsplash photos are used under the Unsplash Licence. Other photos and graphics © Darren Covington.