Bush fires contained, but work goes on
Australia’s deadly bushfires may now be classified as contained but there’s still a lot of work to do, a veteran Kiwi firefighter says.
The blazes in New South Wales, which have been burning since early September, were officially declared contained last month after heavy rain lashed the state.
Nigel Dravitzki, a NZ liaison and Taranaki/Ruapehu/ Whanganui principal rural fire officer, was working in the NSW State Operation Centre when the announcement was made.
‘‘I had a sense of relief for them because I know how hard they and we all worked in what was a continual battle to try and get on top of what was happening.
‘‘It was really a blessing that they got that rainfall because there was so much fire on the landscape, it really needed that to get to that point.’’
Since the fires began, at least 33 people killed, including firefighters, and about 11 million hectares of land has been scorched across NSW, Victoria and Queensland.
Firefighters are now dampening down areas to ensure the fires didn’t flare up again but they were not spreading,
Dravitzki said.
‘‘This is just really identifying hot spots and securing containment lines to make sure if the weather changes these things don’t blow up and jump the containment lines.
‘‘They are really conscious that they don’t want to drop the ball at this final stage.’’
Since October, more than 300 New Zealand firefighters have been deployed across the Tasman and a 12-member remote area team along with a liaison officer still remain in NSW, Dravitzki said.
‘‘They will do hover exits out of helicopters to get into really remote places and things like that,’’ he said.
Dravitzki said it had been a traumatic, exhausting and anxious time but fire crews were now able to take a moment to catch up with loved ones and take a breather.
‘‘It’s been groundhog day for them. When you are operating at a high, high level and your adrenaline is pumping and you are grinding it out and you get to a point where you have got a bit of a break there’s a sigh of relief.’’
The fires had left significant scaring on the landscape and some communities were having to start rebuilding from scratch but Dravitzki said there was now fresh energy to get on with it.