REGIONAL forestry firefighters have left their families in the lead up to Christmas to battle the catastrophic blazes sweeping across New South Wales.
More than 20 OneFortyOne (OFO) staff have joined the regional firefighting effort in recent weeks as the fire emergency continues to grip interstate communities.
In heartwarming scenes, 10 OFO firefighters were welcomed home by their families late Wednesday afternoon at the Mount Gambier Regional Airport.
While the fatigued crew returned home after a two week stint, a second contingent headed off earlier this week as more than 100 blazes continue to burn across New South Wales.
This crew is not expected home until close to Christmas.
OFO estate manager Andrew Matheson said firefighters faced challenging conditions in native forest areas near Port Macquarie and a fresh crew this week headed to new fires near Canberra.
“We are fortunate we have a window of opportunity given the green conditions in the region that we can send our firefighters to these regions,” said Mr Matheson, who was at the airport to welcome the returning contingent.
While the Country Fire Service’s (CFS) fire danger season had started, he said the region’s plantation-based industry firefighting season would not start until after Christmas due to mild conditions.
“If we had normal summer conditions, then we probably would not had been able to send people away given it is too much of a risk,” Mr Matheson said.
“We are fortunate in our region that we have really good cooperation with other growers, the Country Fire Service and Country Fire Authority who know when we have 20 people away, they have your back.”
While the crews were trained in plantation fires, he said OFO firefighters were being confronted with challenging conditions in NSW given the rugged native forest landscape.
“These areas are very hilly, while in the Limestone Coast it is quite flat. They have told us how steep the country is. Native forests also have different fuels – it is quite an experience for the OFO crews,” Mr Matheson said.
Although crews were upbeat when first arriving at the fire ground, Mr Matheson said they had since endured long shifts, hot weather and fatigue.
“It was pretty full on, but at the same time the NSW crews have doing this for weeks and weeks,” he said.
“It was a nice opportunity to given them break.
“It is so weary for them to be doing this all the time.”
However, he conceded OFO staff looked forward to coming home and reuniting with their families.
“The crew that left this week will not get back until closer to Christmas, which is a big commitment given they will miss Christmas shows and end of year school functions,” the OFO spokesperson said.
“From a selfless point of view, you are there to help others but it also gives our own staff really good experience in fires. We do not have many fires here, so it is good to get that experience.”
While hoping the Limestone Coast would not face a similar fire event, Mr Matheson said interstate fire crews “may return the favour” if needed.
“The scary thing is for the NSW communities is these fires will not end until they receive substantial rain and that may not happen for months,” Mr Matheson said.
He said OFO crews had been mostly backburning and strengthening containment lines.
“The crew sent on Tuesday have been deployed to fires east of Canberra, where there have a couple of new fires that have kicked off in the past few days,” Mr Matheson said.
“We have had 10 people come back and 10 going out this week.”
He said OFO had also sent a number of vehicles – with water tanks – to the fire zones.
Meanwhile, OFO fire manager Justin Cook has flown to fire zones near Grafton to help in the incident control centre.
He said he was helping relieve staff so they could have a break, given they worked long hours.
After arriving in the area, Mr Cook said the number of fires burning and the damage across New South Wales was staggering.
Meanwhile, Mr Cook said OFO would have more than 90 firefighters ready to go this fire season, which included staff, contractors and the summer crew.
“We hope for the best, but plan for the worst,” he said.
Along with OFO firefighters, a contingent of South East Country Fire Service volunteers travelled to New South Wales for a five-day deployment to battle the bushfires earlier this month.
