BY JESSICA ROUSE
While it may not be at the top of today’s headlines, bushfires continue to burn in Victoria with about ten major fires still burning and more than 1000 structures destroyed including 289 homes.
When the catastrophic conditions swept across Victoria in early January, the NSW Rural Fire Service put the call out for volunteers to form a strike team.
Four firefighters from the Upper Hunter were a part of the first 89-strong strike team. Peter Holland from Radio Hunter Valley and the Edinglassie Brigade, Tye from Darlington, Shaun from Whittingham and Pez from Bulga.
They all flew out of Sydney on Thursday, January 8, and were based at Puckapunyal Military Base. The scale of the situation became quite clear before they even got out on a truck.
“The first team got stuck out on the fire ground on the Friday. They got caught in Yark; there were so many trees that had fallen across roads and they just couldn’t get out – thankfully the good people of Yark looked after them,” reflected Peter while they just had to sit and wait to hear the outcome.
“Eventually we took over from them and on the Saturday evening. We came across some farmers who were trying to stop a running grassfire and we ended up saving five or six properties there.
“The following night we were at Longwood itself clearing roadways of trees and putting out the still burning trees along the roadside,” Peter said.
“There has been a lot of talk about how old the trucks were, but it doesn’t matter whether you had a new truck or an old one, this fire wasn’t going to be pulled up, it was a beast. I have never seen anything like it in my 15 years, the ferocity of which it came through. It was pretty scary at times.
“It’s hard to fathom that you’ve done your best to try and protect something and then watch it burn because there was nothing you could do. This was people’s livelihoods, they lost everything.
“It’s honestly a miracle that only one person had died.”
Peter said more often than not rural firies get all the recognition, but there are so many people on the fireground providing essential assistance.
“The ones who don’t get the big recognition are our forestry people, the National Parks and Wildlife team who are amongst it as well. All of us in the yellow get the recognition and get told we’re heroes – none of us are heroes.
“We do it because we want to help but these guys and girls go walking into the bush to find the fires. Without their knowledge about how fires go through the bush, situations could be a lot more dire so there needs to be a big thank you to them.”
