Fire is an element that has shaped this continent for millions of years. Since the last ice age or so, Indigenous Australians have used fire to tend and nurture Country.

After colonisation, these practices were lost, suppressed or undermined. In the centuries afterward, fires of cataclysmic intensity have come along at higher frequencies.

Den Barber is a Wiradjuri man who runs the Indigenous cultural consultancy Yarrabin Cultural Connections, and is the founding director of Koori Country Cultural Fire Aboriginal Corporation.

He's also an ex firefighter and ranger for the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service.

He joins Blueprint to share his vast and varied experiences in fire management from elders past and present, and how this can inform the protection of our towns and cities.