NSW Bushfires: Horsley Park RFS firefighters pay tribute to Geoff Keaton, Andrew O’Dwyer
The families and colleagues of fallen volunteer firefighters Geoff Keaton and Andrew O’Dwyer have helped unveil a new truck dedicated to the pair.
Fairfield
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The fallen firefighters of Horsley Park’s Rural Fire Service will have a permanent tribute after families and friends brandished a new truck with their names at a ceremony yesterday afternoon.
The old truck was forced into early retirement after a tree fell on it killing Deputy Captain Geoff Keaton and firefighter Andrew O’Dwyer on December 19, while fighting the Green Wattle Creek fire near Buxton.
Captain of the Horsley Park Rural Fire Service Darren Nation said: “They are the first two in our brigade’s history to have died while fighting a fire.
“We’ve lost … family. Andrew was my best mate, he was the best man at my wedding.”
Mr Keaton and Mr O’Dwyer were close, the crew said. They both left behind 20-month-old children, born just two days apart.
Widows Jessica Hayes and Melissa O’Dwyer carried their children to the truck’s doors during the unveiling and helped them apply ‘in memory of” decals above the wheel arches. The children chanted “we love you daddy”, as a crew of two dozen watched.
The deaths of Mr O’Dwyer and Mr Keaton were the first of the bushfire season and thrusted the small Horsley Park brigade into the national spotlight. It marked a turning point in the national response, prompting Prime Minister Scott Morrison to leave his Hawaii holiday early and return to Australia.
To date, this bushfire season has ravaged 5.3 million hectares — more than the three previous seasons combined, killed 25 people and destroyed 2399 homes, a NSW Fire and Rescue spokesman confirmed.
The Horsley Park brigade used to deal with car accidents mostly, but they’ve punched above their weight, Sam Quattromani said, a volunteer firefighter of 31 years.
“For the last 140 days consecutively, we’ve had crews on the ground (fighting a bushfire or grassfire),” he said.
“The year before that, if you were lucky, you would’ve had one a week.”
Mr Quattromani described seeing Mr Keaton and Mr O’Dwyer on the night of their deaths during a changeover after a 16-hour shift.
“I had the truck and I handed the keys over to the boys and then they left,” he said.
“There were trees down, there were power lines down … power poles had burnt out … and were hanging on live wires and we’re driving past them.
“We were doing it during the day when you could see and they were doing it during the night.”
The Horsley Park truck was the third vehicle in a convoy of six when a tree came down on the cabin, killing the two men and injuring three other members of the brigade.
One is still recovering from their injuries, while another is not yet ready to return to service, Mr Nation said.
The crew continues to go through the stages of grief; Mr Quattromani said he still waits for Mr Keaton to call his phone.
“I remember the calls, I enjoyed them,” he said. “I’d look at my phone and I’d think ... ‘he hasn’t rang me’.”
A day after the deaths, the crew jumped back in the truck. They said it helped them feel closer to Mr Keaton and Mr O’Dwyer.
“It was scary,” Mr Quattromani said. “But the honour I had … because we were doing it for the boys.”
The Green Wattle Creek fire was finally downgraded to contained last night after burning for more than a month.