NSW RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons gets emotional during interview

RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons choked up during an interview when speaking about how he deals with the “darkest of moments” during recent bushfires.

The NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner has choked up during an interview when asked about his support network and how he has dealt with the devastating bushfires.

Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons appeared on Studio 10 today to speak about the bushfire season and the major impact it has had across the state.

The interview took an emotional turn when he was asked about who supports him when he has to carry out the more difficult parts of his job.

“I am surrounding by wonderful people in the office and across the organisation and through the government,” Mr Fitzsimmons said before a photo of his wife and daughters appeared on the screen.

Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons and his wife Lisa and daughters Lauren (L) and Sarah. Picture: Damian Shaw

He became visibly emotional while looking at the photo, saying: “My family keeps me very, very grounded. My wife is an absolute rock and my daughters - they’re pretty good.”

“I can say that in those darkest of moments where I struggle, ringing my wife is one of the most important things I do, shedding a few tears and talking through what’s happening,” Mr Fitzsimmons said.

“I am blessed to have three wonderful women in my life at home.”

The RFS Commissioner joked about the way he met his wife Lisa when he was a volunteer firefighter and her father was a local fire control officer.

“I remember a few challenges there where she said to her parents ‘I’m never getting involved with anyone in this bloody organisation. It just consumes your life and takes up so much time’,” he joked.

“They do remind her about that now.”

Mr Fitzsimmons became emotional while speaking about the support his family gives him. Picture: Studio 10/Channel 10

Three RFS volunteers died while fighting fires in NSW at the end of last year, with Mr Fitzsimmons saying dealing with these tragedies was the most difficult part of his job.

But he said even though it is one of the toughest parts, it is also one of the “most important”.

“There is no script written for this sort of stuff, fortunately, but you do have to work with instincts,” he said.

“Being able to spend time with their loved ones in their darkest of hours is difficult but it’s also, dare I say it, very precious and very sacred that people will let you in to a space of such grief and such trauma and share their thoughts and feelings.”

Mr Fitzsimmons knows all too well the dangers these firefighters face, with his own father dying while on the job.

His dad and three other firefighters were killed while carrying out hazard reduction burns in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park in June 2000.

He said the tragic incident made him acutely aware of just how dangerous this job can be and how things like backburning aren’t without their risks.

Mr Fitzsimmons pinning a medal on Harvey Keaton after his father Geoffrey Keaton was posthumously awarded with the Commissioner’s Commendation for Extraordinary Service and a Commendation for Bravery, at his funeral in Sydney. Picture: James Morris from NSW RFS Media Services

“I am very dismissive of people who say ‘We should just go out there and light up the bush’ because that’s a load of rubbish. There are very real risks involved for those that are actually executing the burning strategy,” he said.

“We’ve got people screaming for more now but we’ve only got to go back a couple of months and we were enemy number one because we were burning around Sydney, we were burning around NSW and smoke is a by-product of combustion.”

With the ongoing debate surrounding the bushfires and climate change, one of the things the Commissioner said he does is focus on facts and not listen to the politics of the situation.

“I very deliberately don’t get involved in the emotional hysteria and I don’t think anyone’s benefiting from this frenzied debate,” he said.

He said the RFS have been taking things like climate change, scientific views and forecasts into account for more than a decade.

“The science for us, to simplify it now, talks about longer, hotter fire seasons. It talks about more frequent, more intense fire weather events,” he said.

“That means a shrinking window of opportunity for hazard reduction burning and prescribed burning.”