Couples joining forces on the bushfire frontline
They pledged to stand together in sickness and in health — and on the frontline of a bushfire apparently. Married couples Michelle and Dave Metcalf and Jenny and Anthony Peters volunteer with the RFS and say working together helps them cope with the trauma.
NSW
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They pledged to stand together in sickness and in health — and on the frontline of a bushfire apparently.
Married couples Michelle and Dave Metcalf and Jenny and Anthony Peters are members of the Rural Fire Service Cawdor brigade and they say working together during the fire crisis helped them cope with the trauma.
Mr Peters said fighting the fires could be “very demanding and extremely emotional” but it helped to have his wife by his side.
“We work well together as we know what needs to be done,” he said.
“It also helped through these fires to have her with me to get through some tough days. She didn’t need to ask. She knew what I was going through and was there to help.”
The two couples epitomise the spirit of the volunteer firefighting movement across the country.
In the lead-up to Australia Day next Sunday, News Corp — publisher of The Sunday Telegraph — will celebrate the selfless acts of bravery and the generosity of strangers in a series of special editions starting in The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday.
The series, called Australia Unites, will honour our bushfire heroes.
On Tuesday, our papers nationally will publish stories of bravery and heroism with the proceeds from the sale of every News Corp Australia metro newspaper, and advertisements placed within it that day, going to bushfire relief fundraising appeals.
“The special editions will raise more than $1 million for the bushfire relief efforts and further demonstrate our commitment as a company to supporting the affected communities recover,” said Michael Miller, executive chairman, News Corp Australasia, which has already donated $5 million.
“We are passionate about helping our fellow Australians to get back on their feet, ensuring their towns and businesses rebuild and prosper again.”
The week of coverage will also take a comprehensive look at the impact on wildlife, the recovery efforts, the incredible fundraising efforts and how we rebuild.
“In the months ahead, they will face many challenges. There will be difficult, uncertain times. Now is the time for all of us unite to help these communities,” Mr Miller said.
The Metcalfs and the Peters’ are also committed to the rebuilding process in their communities. It’s what motivated them to join the RFS in the first place.
After her husband signed up four years ago, Mrs Metcalf helped with fundraising for the volunteer service.
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A year in and the fireys encouraged her to join the truck with Mr Metcalf behind the wheel.
Taking leave from their full-time jobs as the fires flared up last year, Mr Metcalf, a risk executive, and Mrs Metcalf, an accountant, have been deployed to fire grounds across the state — Drake in northern NSW, Bargo and Bundanoon in the Southern Highlands and the Wombeyan Caves at the edge of the monstrous Green Wattle Creek Fire.
But for Mrs Metcalf, being a RFS volunteer isn’t just about battling flames.
It’s fundraising, delivering sandwiches to weary fireys, rostering and being a shoulder for impacted community members to cry on.
Anything to keep the emergency response to the bushfire crisis ticking over.
“On Boxing Day we were at Bargo and a couple we were helping them put out a smouldering compost heap,” Mrs Metcalf, a former Lifeline counsellor, said.
“The husband came over and you could tell in his eyes, he was really unsettled. The wife ended up in tears to Dave. For her, it was survivor’s guilt that her house was still standing.”
Having run a business with her husband before, the parents to six children had no hesitation about working harmoniously side-by-side.
“He is the driver and the pump operator, he is the one you have to listen to,” Mrs Metcalf said.
“I think as a couple it is important to give each other space to do your jobs.”
The RFS now runs in the family for Mr and Mrs Peters, who have been married for 25 years and volunteered for 28 and 25 years respectively.
The couple’s two oldest children, 20 and 16, are also members.
Originally published as Couples joining forces on the bushfire frontline