This incoming bushfire season, Nadia Rhodes will be Canberra's eyes in the sky.
The newly-minted air attack supervisor will have to direct up to eight pilots through helicopter radio: "In three, two, one ... drop, drop, drop!", she will say - all while keeping a steady voice, and a level head, hovering above an out of control blaze.
"If I was to get on the radio and start panicking, then everybody would go, 'Wow, something is wrong here'," the Kambah local said.
"I always speak in that really calm, controlled manner.
"That's crucial when you're trying to get across quick information."
The long-time ACT Parks and Conservation Service ranger has been through more than two decades of training to take the reins on air attack; climbing the ranks from a seasonal on-the-ground firefighter, to aviation radio operator, to air observer, and most recently, incendiary bomb operator.
Her newest role, in which she is the only woman in the territory, will see her do the opposite of lighting up the landscape for hazard reduction burns. Instead, she'll call in water-bombing fixed-wings or helicopters to empty their belly-tanks and suppress flames, leading the way for each with a highly experienced pilot beside her.
The ACT has two more male air attack supervisors, while the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service has one woman among 16.
"I was the only female in this training course as well so I walked into a room full of 12 men," Ms Rhodes said.
"It was a little bit hard for a while there to keep my hours up [after maternity leave] but because it was something I really wanted to do, I managed to make myself available as much as I could.
"It is achievable, you just have to work things out."
The 42-year-old now has an eight-year-old son, Lachlan, and wants to encourage more women to take on senior and challenging roles in ACT parks' seasonal fire service. About 28 per cent of its firefighters are female, and the latest basic firefighting course attracted 50 per cent women.
"I've been lucky to be able to keep those next steps going, and it's probably because there's not that many aviation specialists [in the territory] that I've been lucky enough to get all these opportunities," Ms Rhodes said.
This season's conditions are looking quite dry and grim.
Nadia Rhodes
This fire season, from October through April, she'll spend her first couple of shifts as air attack supervisor in the back seat behind a mentor. Ms Rhodes will head up front and lead the operation with their guidance after, and supervise independently when she feels comfortable.
"I'm in two minds: I hope we have a quiet season but I also hope that there is a bit of activity so I can actually put my training into practice and do something with it ... while it's all fresh," she said.
"[This season's] conditions are looking quite dry and grim.
"If a fire was to get started, we'd have to get into suppression mode quite quickly and deal with it while it's small."
The coordination of agencies in the ACT, including the territory's rural fire service, meant crews were well-prepared to take on flames, Ms Rhodes said. Air capabilities generally complimented people on the ground, and her new title allowed her to switch between air observation - mapping and reporting back on conditions - and air attack.
"For the second year, we've [also] got the specialised intelligence gathering camera helicopter, which comes up from Melbourne," Ms Rhodes said.
"It can switch between infrared camera and imagery or just standard [view].
"We can look through that and get that quite critical information back to the incident management team in real-time."
