Some of the Australian bushfires are very close to my hometown so I've understandably been monitoring them pretty closely. Luckily the state government have a pretty awesome interactive map. It even works fantastically on mobile. https://emergency.vic.gov.au
Have you ever been to the rural areas where these fires are occurring? Population is so sparse that it’s not even economical for telcos to operate some towers and require subsidies. Signal strength is terrible depending on the distance, especially in an emergency scenario.
he/him 