Volunteer firefighters face hard holiday

SYDNEY — One of the worst early fire seasons in Australia’s history has so far left 10 people dead, destroyed nearly 1,000 properties and consumed millions of acres. To confront the danger and protect communities, the country has relied on its overwhelmingly volunteer firefighting force.

The volunteers, some of whom have been working more than 12-hour shifts as they drain annual leave from their jobs, say they are getting by through a combination of adrenaline and a sense of duty to their neighbors.

But as the physical and emotional toll on the thousands of unpaid firefighters mounts, Australia is facing questions about whether it can continue to rely on a volunteer force as climate change contributes to an ever-lengthening fire season.

As calls have grown for the country to begin compensating firefighters, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said that doing so is not an immediate goal, and that fire chiefs have not asked for the change.

Members of the Fire Brigade Employees Union, which represents firefighters in Australia, said at a news conference last week that it was “bewildering” that the government expected volunteer firefighters to work for months on end without compensation.

As they do so, the firefighters are risking their lives in the face of blazes that are growing larger and more intense as the country gets hotter and drier. That danger was tragically illustrated last week when two firefighters battling a blaze in a town southwest of Sydney were killed when their truck rolled over.

David Smart, captain of the volunteer firefighters in the Kangaroo Valley, 100 miles south of Sydney, said that his brigade was taking steps to manage the increased demands. The firefighters were cycling shifts to try to avoid fatigue, he said, but the long days still wore on them. And then there is the emotional trauma of seeing houses and bush land destroyed, he added.

“I think everyone is very stressed,” he said. “People are tired. It’s been going for weeks on end.”

On Tuesday, Morrison announced that volunteer firefighters who were also federal government employees would get four weeks of paid leave to fight the fires. He acknowledged, though, that the measure would do little to benefit volunteers who were self-employed or who worked in the private sector.