Nerve center at heart of Australian fires

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As dozens of unpredictable bushfires break out in Australia's extreme heat, military-style operations are in full swing at a "nerve center" that harnesses state-of-the-art technology allied to the power of social media.

Already equipped with the world's largest firefighting service, with more than 70,000 unpaid volunteers at its disposal, the New South Wales Rural Fire Service deploys information as a key resource in battling the elements.

At the state operations room at the western Sydney headquarters of the RFS, fire officials sit alongside representatives from the police, the Department of Defense, utilities and state bodies to coordinate the fire response.

Before them is a giant digital video wall, the largest in the southern hemisphere, displaying information about all fires burning in the state, including maps, number of firefighters at the front and weather forecasts.

"This is the nerve centre for all the fires that are going on in New South Wales at the moment," media spokeswoman Brydie O'Connor said.

All information - including fire behavior analysis, air resources, number of fire trucks available, streets and homes that might come under threat - is plugged into an online system and is immediately available to all who need it.

The center itself is disaster-proofed, with custom designs ensuring if there is a major power outage or some sort of catastrophic event in NSW that electricity would still run in the building.

Combined with the expert analysis and information to track fires, the RFS uses social media to engage with those who need it most: people in the path of danger.

Using its website, a new smartphone app and social media sites, the RFS works on multiple fronts to get the message out, alerting citizens to the nearest blazes and providing timely updates.

The "Fires Near Me" app is designed to alert people to bush fire activity in real time, informing them of any bushfire within a 50 kilometer radius of their phone's GPS location and providing data on its size and severity.

The government's Climate Commission has warned that such extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and severity due to climate change, exacerbating the risk of fires.

Questions:

1. How many volunteers does the NSW Rural Fire Service have?

2. What is the smartphone app called?

3. What is causing the extreme weather events?

Answers:

1. More than 70,000.

2. ‘Fires Near Me’.

3. Climate change.

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Emily Cheng is an editor at China Daily. She was born in Sydney, Australia and graduated from the University of Sydney with a degree in Media, English Literature and Politics. She has worked in the media industry since starting university and this is the third time she has settled abroad - she interned with a magazine in Hong Kong 2007 and studied at the University of Leeds in 2009.