Australian fires a learning experience
A Southland firefighter in Australia battling raging bush fires says the experience will help better prepare firefighters back home.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand crew leader Ken Keenan, of Hedgehope, said the fires in Australia move faster and they could change quicker compared to the fires they dealt with in regional Southland.
Keenan would like to incorporate scenario drill training when he returns to deal with vegetation fires so Southland
crews were better prepared.
Five crews from New Zealand had been deployed in New South Wales to work on the 65,000 hectare Charleys Forest fires, roughly 90 minutes east of Canberra.
Other Southland firefighters sent were Graeme Appleby, Brodie Butcher and Nigel Milne.
The operation was about sharing the workload and giving Australian teams a rest, Keenan said.
Southlanders had been supportive of their efforts, he said. ‘‘The support keeps us going.’’
Fire and Emergency New Zealand strike team leader Bruce Janes said fighting fires was only 50 per cent of the role of a crew leader – the rest was looking after crew members from an emotional point of view.
Members would be spending extended periods of time away from family, working long hours and it was important to make sure it was not getting to them emotionally, Janes said.
Crew members would spend 12 hours fighting fires but would be working 14 to 16 hours a day given the travel to get to the fires, Janes said.
The latest group of firefighters arrived in New South Wales on January 8 and will be returning home on January 20.