After battling smoke and flames, nothing beats Christmas lunch with your ‘family’

For the past five weeks, members of the Cherrybrook Rural Fire Service brigade have been at the frontline. But on Christmas Day, they sat down for a shared lunch.

Rural Fire Service captain Wayne Everett, front, and his crew enjoy Christmas lunch near Bilpin, NSW, during a cool reprieve from the bushfire crisis. Picture: Sam Mooy

For the past five weeks, members of the Cherrybrook Rural Fire Service brigade have been at the frontline of the bushfire crisis, ­battling major blazes as they have threatened Sydney’s outskirts.

Yet on Christmas Day, deputy captain Wayne Everett and his five men sat down for a shared lunch, as cooler conditions and up to 60mm of rain in some places eased the fire threat.

They missed out on Christmas with their loved ones but as crew member Dave Theodorou put it, at least they were with their ­“second family”.

Their meal of salad boxes, meat slices and juice poppers had been well earned. The unit had just trekked about 4km through thick scrub, in their heavy uniforms. Armed with chainsaws and whipper snippers, they had worked to clear containment lines, making the most of the respite in weather conditions.

Mr Theodorou said he had missed out on watching his two-year-old, Leo, open his presents on Christmas morning. He had slipped out of his home just before sunrise so he could meet his mates at the Cherrybrook RFS station at 5.30am — but it was a job that had to be done. “I’ve missed all our family events the past few weeks, which is a bit upsetting, but I’ve got my second family here,” the 32-year-old said. “If you’re going to miss Christmas, you’re missing it with the right people here.”

Mr Theodorou has spent every second day in December fighting fires, including a trip to Tenterfield in the far north of NSW.

He said his truck was full of presents for his wife and son, given to him by locals who had wrapped presents for sons, daughters, parents and spouses but handed them to passing trucks.

“I’ve teared up about 20 times when people thank us for what we do,” he said. “I was in the army, and the army was nothing like this. There’s nothing that makes you more proud.”

The Cherrybrook crew is among more than 2000 across the country that have volunteered time to protect communities from bushfires.

Christmas Day brought up to 60mm of rain to towns from Toowoomba in Queensland to Ulladulla in southern NSW. RFS spokesman Anthony Bradstreet said increased moisture in the air had “helped put a lid on much of the erratic fire behaviour”. He said firefighters would use favourable conditions on Thursday to strengthen containment lines ahead of a “prolonged heatwave” forecast to arrive on Saturday.

In South Australia, firefighters are racing to bring the devastating Adelaide Hills bushfire under control ahead of searing temperatures forecast for the weekend.

Boxing Day would give the Country Fire Service a window of opportunity to bring the 25,000ha blaze to heel before temperatures soar to 41C on Saturday.

CFS chief Mark Jones paid tribute to the 200 firefighters who gave up their Christmas Day to battle the Hollands Creek Road and Cudlee Creek fires. “You selflessly give your time, time away from your family, and you endure financial losses to put yourself in harm’s way to protect the community,” he said.

“Fires don’t discriminate whether it’s Christmas Day or not and our firefighters don’t discriminate either.”

A watch and act warning remains in place for the region, where fires have destroyed at least 84 homes and claimed the life of 69-year-old grandfather Ron Selth.

Vineyards owned by top winery Henschke around the Adelaide Hills have been destroyed by the bushfires, turning to ash some of the best wines in the country, including some of the oldest pinot noir vines in the Adelaide Hills.

Fifth-generation winemaker Stephen Henschke took to Instagram to break the news. However, the jewel in Henschke’s crown, the single vineyard Hill of Grace label, which is grown from a tiny vineyard in nearby Eden Valley, was not affected by the fires.

Additional reporting: Eli Greenblat