Firefighter injured in Huon Valley during Tasmanian bushfires faces four months in back brace
The Wolfe Brothers band have brightened the hospital stay of a Tasmanian volunteer firefighter who was injured during this summer’s bushfire crisis.
Tasmania
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A VOLUNTEER firefighter injured while battling the Geeveston fires says he thought his life was “all over” after he suffered a fractured vertebrae in a truck rollover.
The Tasmania Fire Service light tanker that James Lusted, of New Norfolk, was riding in rolled six times down a steep embankment on January 31.
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Mr Lusted suffered a fractured vertebrae in his back and spent eight nights in hospital.
He now faces four months of recovery in a back brace before he starts physiotherapy and eventually returns to work managing a service station.
The incident happened at the peak of this summer’s Huon Valley fires.
Mr Lusted’s shift began on the fire line midmorning. It was after lunch when he and crews from a number of Tasmanian fire stations were sent to control a threatening bushfire off Kermandie River Rd, near Geeveston’s town centre.
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Moments after firefighters were given directions by their crew leader, cries for help were heard through communication radios.
It was Mr Lusted.
The TFS vehicle he and a female volunteer fire officer were in had rolled 30m downhill.
“She jumped out of the vehicle pretty quickly and I tried to open my door, but I was trapped in,” Mr Lusted said.
“I gave the door a bash to open it, but then realised my back wasn’t quite right.”
Crews rushed to assist the pair before the Westpac Rescue Helicopter touched down to take them to the Royal Hobart Hospital.
“My thought process flying in that chopper was that it was all over,” Mr Lusted said.
“It was a very weird mix of feelings, with obviously the pain and the mental stress.”
The female occupant of the vehicle was treated for minor injuries.
Despite the ordeal, Mr Lusted is determined to return to firefighting.
He said his hospital stay was sweetened when members of band The Wolfe Brothers paid a visit.
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“It was something I really enjoyed and just to think they gave up their time for me was great,” Mr Lusted said.
Wolfe Brothers bassist Tom Wolfe said the band jumped at the opportunity to visit Mr Lusted when they heard of his situation.
“We got an email asking to sign a poster for him and thought, ‘gee, we could do better than that’,” he said.
“James might say we gave up our time, but at the end of the day he, like all the fireys, gave up so much to protect our properties, so a simple hospital visit like that is the least we could do.”
james.kitto@news.com.au
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