MP Hugh McDermott tells of lost firefighters’ last moments
RFS volunteer and Labor MP Hugh McDermott will pay tribute to fallen firefighters Andrew O’Dwyer and Geoff Keaton in NSW parliament today, recalling his final moments with the pair before they tragically lost their lives.
NSW
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Labor MP Hugh McDermott was one of the last people to see two heroic firefighters alive before they were tragically lost in the horror Wattle Creek blaze in December.
The brigade had chatted about fires and sick children during their shift changeover for the rural fire service, moments before their lives would change forever.
Mr McDermott, a rural fire service firefighter, will pay tribute to Andrew O’Dwyer and Geoff Keaton today in NSW parliament, recalling those final moments and hailing the men as courageous heroes.
On December 19, after a long day battling the Wattle Creek fire, Mr McDermott’s crew threw the keys of the fire truck to the pair and said: “I’ll see you in 12 hours”. But they never would.
Mr McDermott will tell of those final chats — and how Mr Keaton had spoken about his young son before driving off to fight fires — as NSW parliament begins a week of tributes to firefighters and victims.
Mr McDermott said he wanted to put on the official record of parliamentary Hansard the courage and heroism of Mr O’Dwyer and Mr Keaton so their children may one day read it back.
Members of the Horsley Park RFS brigade attended parliament today to watch the speech and also witnessed Premier Gladys Berejiklian paying tribute to the victims of the bushfire crisis which she said left a “huge scar on NSW”.
Ms Berejiklian used the first sitting day of 2020 to move a condolence motion for all those affected by the fires and to pay tribute to the 25 people who lost their lives.
More than 2400 homes have been destroyed as five million hectares was burned across the state.
“Nothing can compare to the human toll, nothing can compare to the lives lost, families broken and thousands without a home,” the premier told the lower house on Tuesday.
“The scale of these bushfires is unprecedented and NSW is experiencing the most devastating natural disaster in living memory.”
Hugh McDermott, part of the Horsley Park Brigade 1 Alpha in the rural fire service, was tasked to the Green Wattle Creek fire at Balmoral and Buxton in Wollondilly.
He met up with Mr O’Dwyer and Mr Keaton at 8pm and three other colleagues the evening of December 19 at Picton for crew changeover.
“We talked about the job at hand, our concerns on the condition of the fireground and the dangers we were facing. We talked about our families and what was happening at home,” Mr McDermott said.
He said that Mr Keaton had spoken about his young son.
“Geoff’s 20 month old son, Harvey, was ill with a similar ailment that my daughter had a few years ago, so we talked about him and parenting stress for a couple of minutes,” Mr McDermott will say in his speech to parliament today.
“In the future, when Harvey is old enough to read this Hansard, I want him to know that the last words Geoff spoke to me were about him. Harvey, your father loved you very much.”
Mr McDermott told Mr O’Dwyer and Mr Keaton “I’ll see you in 12 hours”.
He never did. As the five vehicle convoy of the Cumberland Strike Team sped through Balmoral a large burning tree fell, hitting the cabin of the truck Mr O’Dwyer and Mr Keaton were in.
The truck flipped and rolled three times, killing them.
“Of the three volunteers in the back of the cabin, Carlos’s legs were trapped and he was bleeding from a large gash behind his ear,” Mr McDermott said of Carlos Quinteros, another brigade member.
“Tim was unconscious but (brigade member) Ben (Fraser), despite his injuries, climbed into the front of the cabin in an attempt to help Andrew and Geoff.
“He held Andrew’s head in his lap.”
Mr McDermott said the actions of those volunteer fire fighters – some of whom are in the House today – were both “extraordinary and typical of our brigade and the members of the RFS.”
On hearing the news of the deaths, Mr McDermott said his “only thought at the time was to head to the Brigade and be with my colleagues. And their families.”
The families of Geoff and Andrew showed up as well, as did Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.
The fire brigade members wanted to go straight back on the fire line, and were redeployed the following day.
Mr McDermott will use the speech to encourage “civic mindedness” and unity in Australia.
“At a time when many say our social institutions are declining and individualism is on the rise, their commitment reminds us there is a civic mindedness embedded in our Australian DNA,” he said.
“We need to hold onto this, build on this, so that being an active member of the community, of finding how to help our neighbour, is the norm and not the extraordinary.
“I know the Members of this parliament will find bipartisan ways to recognise our volunteer firefighters and thank them for their effort.”