Firefighter killed battling Green Valley blaze identified as Samuel McPaul

Dad-to-be Samuel McPaul was killed when ‘cyclonic winds’ flipped the truck he was travelling in.

The firefighter who died battling the Green Valley blaze has been identified as Samuel McPaul, 28.

Newlywed Samuel McPaul has been named as the third volunteer firefighter to die battling bushfires in two weeks.

McPaul, from the Holbrook area in southern NSW, died battling the Green Valley fire in southeast NSW.

He had been married for 18 months with his wife currently expecting their first child, due in early May.

The 28-year-old man died when the truck he was travelling in was blown over by extreme winds at about 6.00pm on Monday.

RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said on Tuesday morning that to label the death as tragic was an understatement.

“He was well respected in his community and brigade,” Mr Fitzsimmons said.

The RFS Commissioner was visibly shaken by the tragedy, pausing while on the verge of tears as he confirmed the volunteer firefighter’s death.

Mr Fitzsimmons spent Monday night with his family who are grieving their “extraordinary loss”.

Mr Fitzsimmons described “cyclonic winds” that flipped the fire truck McPaul was travelling in as a “fire tornado”.

The Green Valley fire that killed McPaul is still burning near the border of NSW and Victoria.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the news Mr McPaul’s death was “devastating” and that the NSW RFS had lost another member of their “family”.

The Premier urged people to listen to RFS warnings this New Year’s Eve and to avoid travel on roads that could be impacted by bushfires, like parts of the Princes Highway and Kings Highway.

“Your actions could unintentionally hurt others,” Ms Berejiklian said.

It understood that McPaul was firefighting with another passenger from the refuge area behind the main cabin when the truck rolled in Jingellic, east of Albury.

The other passenger, a 39-year-old man, suffered burns and was airlifted to The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne in a serious condition.

The driver was a 52-year-old man who was taken to Holbrook Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

Scott Morrison tweeted that he was “devastated” another firefighter had perished in the blazes.

Devastated at the terrible news of the loss of another volunteer firefighter and two others injured near Jingellic in southern NSW where a truck has rolled over. In a separate vehicle another firefighter has been injured.

— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) December 30, 2019

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian tweeted that the death was “just heartbreaking” and “words fail at times like this”.

A second truck was blown over, injuring one other firefighter.

Geoffrey Keaton, 32, and Andrew O’Dwyer, 36, were the two other firefighters who died earlier this month when a tree hit their tanker as they were travelling near Buxton, southwest of Sydney on December 19.

Despite the loss, emergency services will have no reprieve as Sydney, Newcastle and most of NSW’s south prepare for extreme weather conditions on New Year’s Eve.

Extreme fire danger has been forecast for the Southern Ranges, Illawarra and ACT Eve while surrounding regions – including Sydney, the Hunter and the far South Coast – are set for severe fire danger.

In Sydney, strong dry winds, poor air quality and temperatures touching 33C are expected while the city’s west will pass 40C.

Strong westerly winds are expected, pushing fires east and placing coastal communities under threat.

The RFS warned that seven fires burning between Batemans Bay and the Victorian border are a serious threat to life.

Total fire bans are in place for more than half of the state’s 21 fire districts including Sydney, while dozens of the state’s near-100 blazes burn out of control.

Fire prediction maps suggest the Green Wattle Creek fire, which has already scorched 227,000 hectares, may cross the Hume Highway near Bowral, south of Sydney.

The Dunns Road fire near Tumut and the Badja Forest Rd fire near Cooma appear set to be among the blazes to expand most significantly.

Conditions are not set to ease until a southerly blows through on Tuesday afternoon.

The Green Valley fire, which is also threatening communities on the Victorian side of the Murray River, was one of eight NSW blazes subject to either emergency warnings or watch-and-act alerts on Monday evening.

In Victoria, thousands of people are preparing for a dangerous wind change early Tuesday morning as up to 30 out-of-control fires burned across East Gippsland.

With AAP