Bushfires: firefighter deaths are personal, says Shane Fitzsimmons

For NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, the death of firefighters is particularly personal.

Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons. Picture: Peter Lorimer

The death of firefighters in the line of duty would be devastating for any fire chief but for NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, the loss is particularly personal.

This year marks two decades since his own firefighting father, George Fitzsimmons, was killed in a hazard-reduction burn gone wrong.

His father, 53 at the time, died in the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park in 2000 when a hazard ­reduction burn became uncontrolled, killing four National Parks and Wildlife Service officers and injuring three more.

When asked in 2009 whether he had considered quitting the ­service following his father’s death, ­Commissioner Fitzsimmons said it instead informed his drive and commitment to firefighting.

“If I was honest, it strengthened my resolve to be part of this organisation,” he said.

“And in making sure the ­strategies, equipment and ­operations that we deploy are done in a way that maximises firefighter safety.

“Every family has the right to expect their loved ones to come home after a shift.”

A bush-rock memorial and ­engraved plaque with the names of those killed was erected near the site of the tragedy.

Commissioner Fitzsimmons was also out fighting in the line of duty on the day his father was killed.

George Fitzsimmons.

“I was working that day,” he said in 2009.

“People lost their lives. Others have been permanently scarred and disfigured.”

He said he wished he could speak to his father about what happened in those final, crucial minutes.

“Something went horribly wrong,” he told The Sunday Telegraph in 2013.

“The mapping and information on the terrain was woefully ­inadequate.

“You cannot know how much I would give just for five minutes to talk to him and find out what ­happened on that day.”

The commissioner’s personal loss was made even more poignant this week as he presented a medal of honour to 19-month-old Harvey Keaton, whose father, Geoff Keaton, died last month in the line of duty.

The toddler continued to suck on his dummy on Thursday while the commissioner pinned the posthumous award to his child-sized RFS ­uniform.

Geoff Keaton had been fighting the Green Wattle Creek fire near Buxton, southwest of Sydney, when his RFS truck was struck by a falling tree, crushing the cab of the truck.

He is one of three NSW RFS volunteer firefighters killed in the line of duty this bushfire season.

Andrew O’Dwyer, 36, who was killed in the same fatal accident as Keaton on December 19, will be ­remembered in a service next week.

Mr O’Dwyer was also a new ­father, whose daughter Charlotte was born within days of Harvey Keaton.

Samuel McPaul, 28, was killed battling the Green Valley fire in southeast NSW when the truck in which he was travelling was blown over by extreme winds about 6pm on Monday.