(UTV|COLOMBO) – “We’re doing it because it’s a passion. It’s a brotherhood,” says Daniel Knox.
“When that photo was taken of me, I had done a 15-hour shift out there.”
He is one of thousands of Australians who’ve dropped their ordinary lives to battle the nation’s raging fire crisis.
For weeks, the 22-year-old landscaper has lived around his phone, springing into action when called upon.
He is part of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) which calls itself “the world’s largest volunteer firefighting organisation”. Its 70,000 members are extensively trained and, except for a few senior staff, mostly unpaid.
Mr Knox joined his local brigade in Sydney’s south-west five years ago, when he was 17. He bonded with a senior member – Andrew O’Dwyer – over football and photography.
“He took me under his wing, looked after me and helped me out so much. The respect he gave me, a young bloke, even when I made mistakes… he was my brother,” he told the BBC.
Last Thursday, Mr O’Dwyer and Geoffrey Keaton, the deputy captain at the Horsley Park Fire Brigade, were sent out late at night to a massive firefront.
En route their truck was hit by a falling tree, which caused it to roll. Three firefighters in the back seat were injured but were able to escape.
Mr O’Dwyer and Mr Keaton – both fathers to young children – were killed at the scene. They died five days before Christmas.
Earlier, bigger, more dangerous fires
Since September, close to 3,000 firefighters have been out every day in NSW battling blazes the size of small European countries.
Close to 90% of those people on the ground are unpaid volunteers, says the NSW RFS, the government-funded organisation leading the fight.
This century-old model is common across Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia – Australian states which have traditionally had bushfires each summer. In recent years, fires have also flared up in Tasmania and sub-tropical Queensland.
In NSW, most of the 2,000 or so brigades are found in country towns and rural centres dotted among eucalyptus bushland. Members are almost always locals, stepping in to save their own communities.
Historically, the work has tended to be patchy, which has been a key factor behind the volunteerism. Fires don’t rage all year round, and there have been years when many areas aren’t affected at all.
But this year, the situation has changed. Intense blazes typically seen in later summer have flared in spring, forcing authorities to wage full-blow campaigns earlier than ever before.
They’re also dealing with hundreds more fires, burning simultaneously in hotter and drier conditions. NSW has been in drought for years, and fires are ripping through the state.
The monstrous Gospers Mountain blaze, an hour’s drive north-west of Sydney, has spread to more than 450,000 hectares in size in less than a month. Officials now consider it to be potentially one of the largest fires ever recorded in Australia.
‘Everyone’s working so hard’
For weeks, Lucy Baranowski has been among the crews fighting that blaze, and others closer to her home in Kurrajong Heights. She and her partner took leave from their day jobs a few weeks ago – and are currently skating by on savings, credit cards and support from family and friends.
She misses her children – she evacuated them to her parents’ home over a week ago. On Saturday, her crew helped save a friend’s property – a success. But then the wind changed, and the crew could only stand by as the blaze tore through the neighbouring village of Bilpin. (Courtesy – BBC)
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