Darwin River Volunteer Fire Brigade caretaker Ray Nicholls in it for the long haul
FOR many Australians, the past 12 months have seen the worst bushfire seasons in living memory. And those who have fought the hellish fires – volunteers, professionals and townsfolk – are true heroes. Ray Nicholls is one of those everyday legends
Northern Territory
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FOR many Australians, the past 12 months have seen the worst bushfire seasons in living memory.
And those who have fought the hellish fires – volunteers, professionals and townsfolk – are true heroes.
They have saved homes, livelihoods, and lives.
Darwin River Volunteer Fire Brigade’s Ray Nicholls is one of those heroes.
“I’m caretaker for Darwin River Depot, I recently came over from Cox Peninsula where I was captain for 20 years over there,” he said.
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“Then the job came up at Darwin River and I thought ‘yeah, why not for a little bit’. Keep the hands on, sort of thing.”
But Mr Nicholls’ role is an important one.
While he is no longer able to fight the fire on the front line, he is more than happy to and more than capable of helping refuel trucks with water from the tanker.
At Wednesday’s fire on Letchford Road, he sat at the truck reliably, waiting to refuel each crew as they pulled in for each haul of water.
“Because of the emphysema and that I can’t actually do any of the firefighting, otherwise the smoke just keels me over, but I can man the tanker,” he said.
“Now I’m doing things like this, they always put me on the tanker, delivering water for them.”
Bushfires NT Fire operations support manager Brian Ballinger said since joining the Darwin River volunteer fire brigade, Mr Nicholls had become a Mr Fix-It.
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“Ray has come over to us from Cox Peninsula, he’s a caretaker for our fire station and there’s not enough gratitude given to Ray for the things he does for us,” he said.
Mr Ballinger said Mr Nicholls was an integral part of the team, both with his work in the field and his companionship when the job was done.
“ I really appreciate Ray personally as a friend and as a colleague to work along side.:
It’s the everyday heroes like Ray who have helped save Territory communities at their most desperate hour.
Originally published as Darwin River Volunteer Fire Brigade caretaker Ray Nicholls in it for the long haul