reporter: he s helping coordinate air operations. he left his family behind in colorado, including his 7-month-old son to lend his support. i do miss them a lot. and thinking about having four more weeks, three and a half hoar weeks over here, it gets challenging. but we have technology and facetime. reporter: his family sends him videos to keep his spirits up. but live communication with the 18-hour time difference is difficult. the windows are very narrow. sometimes you are hoping you can get two minutes in to say good night to the kids and good night to your loved ones. reporter: american firefighters in australia are facing new terrain, new terminology. like raft crews. we don t even have those back home. reporter: and a shift in tactics because of the sheer scale of these bushfires. jason loomis works for the u.s. national park service as a fire management specialist. when you learned you were coming here yeah. what want through your