Torquay firefighters welcomed home after lending helping hand in NSW bushfires
Dedicated firefighters who missed precious holiday time with their families have finally returned home after lending a helping hand on the bushfires that have decimated NSW. Now the homegrown heroes are gearing up to defend Victoria from possible threats.
VIC News
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They’ve stood in the face of fires that have decimated NSW.
Now, just days after returning home, this brigade of country fire heroes is set to defend their own.
The Torquay crew missed precious holiday time with their families and took leave from work to answer the call.
But Commander Mick Rowell, a career firefighter who leads the team of volunteers, said they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I felt it was our duty,” Mr Rowell said.
“They need us. It was tough to get away but our volunteers kept putting their hand up to go.
“Some of the towns we were in, it was only the CFA who were fighting the fires. They loved having us up there.”
The Surf Coast squad is among almost 2500 CFA members who have put in up to 18 hours a day since NSW’s fires broke out in September.
They fought a blaze in Currowan, 25km northeast of Bateman’s Bay.
Lieutenant Brooke Killen, a CFA volunteer of 15 years, took leave from his job as an engineer to help.
“It is a big commitment for anyone to take on, leaving work and heading up there,” he said. “When you get up there you see the value you add. They are at the end of their physical and emotional limits; to see you contribute to lessening their load, it’s rewarding.”
Mr Killen said there was a “very strong camaraderie” within the CFA.
“You bond very quickly, people come from all walks of life but the common thread is you are all looking out for one another,” he said.
The work of Victoria’s firefighters has won praise from their interstate counterparts.
“The efforts of Victorian firefighters have been priceless, to them we say thankyou,” a NSW Rural Fire Service spokeswoman told the Sunday Herald Sun. “Our volunteers have been going for months so to be able to give them a short break is much appreciated; we are all very tired, any help is wonderful.”
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There’s no rest for the Torquay troop, who are on red alert as forecast extreme heat intensifies the fire danger in their hometown this week.
“We have strike teams ready to roll if required,” Mr Rowell said.
“It is going to be a long, hot Victorian fire season. Fires in NSW have prepared us. Our crews are match fit; you can do all the training but nothing beats active firefighting.”