How WatchTowers and Minderoo are Transforming Bushfire Resilience

Bushfires don’t wait for bureaucracy, and they don’t care about silos. When the Black Summer fires of 2019-2020 devastated communities, it was clear that Australia needed a better way to detect and respond to fires - faster, smarter and more collaboratively. That’s where our partnership with Minderoo Foundation began.

What started as an initiative under Optus’ innovation team - building a fire monitoring network with Minderoo and the ACT Rural Fire Service (ACT RFS) - became something much bigger. That early work gave us the insight we needed to test AI-driven smoke detection, benchmark solutions and create a more unified approach to fire intelligence. By 2023, we had evolved into WatchTowers Networks, securing a two-year funding agreement with Minderoo that allowed us to scale what we started - leading to the launch of WatchTowers Command.

The lessons we learned during those early days laid the foundation for WatchTowers Networks, shaping our approach to fire resilience and innovation. You can read more about that journey in Rising From the Ashes.

From proof of concept to real-world impact

WatchTowers Command isn’t just another tech platform. It’s a direct response to what firefighters told us they needed - and it was made possible through our partnership with Minderoo. Their backing allowed us to test multiple AI smoke detection solutions, benchmark them against real-world conditions and ensure the technology was shaped by the needs of emergency responders, not just software engineers.

Thanks to Minderoo’s support, we were able to test multiple AI smoke detection solutions, compare them against human reports and emergency calls, and refine a platform that brings everything together. ACT RFS was the first to operationalise it, and now Southern NSW agencies are adopting it too.

What does that look like in practice? Imagine a fire ignition in a remote area. Within minutes, AI-powered smoke detection cameras flag the anomaly. Simultaneously, a local resident calls 000 to report a plume of smoke. In the past, these data points might have been siloed across multiple systems, slowing down response times. With WatchTowers Command, those insights are unified - allowing emergency teams to verify, prioritise and respond in real-time.

Making resilience scalable 

This success didn’t happen in isolation, it required collaboration between emergency services  to ensure that Command was designed with firefighters’ actual needs in mind - not just theoreticals and concepts. By working together, we’ve built a system that:

• Detects fires faster, combining AI alerts with human verification.
• Supports coordinated decision-making, with multiple agencies accessing the same live data.
• Expands beyond ACT, reaching more regions where fast, integrated intelligence is critical.

Through this partnership, WatchTowers has been able to bridge the gap between cutting-edge technology and frontline emergency response, ensuring that innovation leads to real impact.

What’s next for the partnership?

The success of WatchTowers Command in ACT and Southern NSW has created a roadmap for broader adoption. But this is just the beginning. With Minderoo’s support, we’re looking beyond immediate deployments to long-term resilience planning - ensuring every lesson learned strengthens our national fire response system.

Together, we’re working on:

• Further AI advancements, refining how detection models work in different fire conditions.
• Improving interoperability, making sure multiple agencies can integrate seamlessly.
• Developing long-term resilience strategies, so emergency services have the tools to adapt as fire seasons evolve.

The strength of this partnership lies in Minderoo backing our expertise and our firefighters experience to ensure that WatchTowers can move beyond isolated tech solutions and into large-scale deployment, benefiting communities where it matters most.

Building a future of fire resilience

The launch of WatchTowers Command is just the beginning. As fire seasons grow longer and more severe, the need for a smarter, more connected response system is greater than ever. With Minderoo’s continued collaboration, we’re ready to build on this foundation - expanding coverage, refining AI capabilities and ensuring that first responders everywhere have the tools they need to protect lives and communities.

We also recognise that bushfire resilience isn’t static - it’s an ongoing process that requires constant adaptation and innovation. That’s why this partnership with Minderoo is so crucial, with their support we have moved faster and smarter than we could have alone. Together, we’re setting new standards for fire detection and response - not just for today, but for the future.

We’re proud to stand alongside Minderoo and we’re just getting started.