‘Like walking into an orange hell’
A Sligo based photographer has spoken about his concern for his son who is amongst hundreds of firefighters tackling bush fires in Australia.
Peter Wilcock, a native of Morecambe but who has lived in Sligo for many years, says his son, Nathan has described conditions, “like walking into an orange hell”.
Nathan is currently living in Perth, the capital of Western Australia, but has been sent to New South Wales in an effort to combat the bush fires which ravaging the south-eastern state since last Septmber.
On his first day tackling the bush fires, the 51-year-old father of three worked a 17-hour day, followed by a 16-hour day and a 13-hour day.
“All of this is in like 45 degrees of heat, so it’s ferocious.” said Peter Wilcock. With smoky conditions surrounding the affected areas, visibility for those fighting the fires is very low making it even more dangerous.
“You never know if you drive around the corner if there’s a fire going to be there because they can’t see. It’s not like in the clear blue skies when you can see that there’s a fire over there…
It’s quite scary.” said Mr Wilcock.
Recent rain spells have provided some relief for firefighters and volunteers alike.
“Luckily that’s given them a chance to do what they call containment. They cut back trees and cut down stuff, so the fire doesn’t get a chance to spread,” said Mr Wilcock.
“They try and make a bit of a break.” Although Mr Wilcock’s son is based in Perth, which is about five hours away from where the bush fires are, he was sent to New South Wales as the firefighters in the region were exhausted from the conditions they were working in.
“His lads were sent across to try and help out.” he said. For any parent, having your child working in such dangerous conditions can be difficult.
“It’s his job and he’s been doing it for a good many years, but I obviously still worry,” said Mr Wilcock.
“I mean two firefighters have been killed, it’s dangerous work and you see the scenario they are working under, and our natural inclination is to go ‘oh my god’, but to them it’s work, it’s a job.
“They know what they’re doing, you just hope that they don’t get caught out in some unexpected circumstances that change.”
For those living in Perth, they escaped the worst of the fires, but for Mr Wilcock, he has been in the area when there have been bad fires in previous years.
“Perth has seemed to escape it, there’s been a couple around and about, but nothing on the scale that they’ve got over on the other side.
“But you always live with it here in Australia, conditions are dry and then the slightest sparks start it off,” said Mr Wilcock who is currently in Austrialia on holiday, visiting his son and another daughter and their families.