Many people and firefighters have been killed... I have cried a few times already
A firefighter on the frontline of Australia’s raging wild fires has revealed the harrowing fight to save lives and homes.
Kevin Stewart, who became a fire officer in the South Australian Fire Service after emigrating from North Berwick, has been working to protect communities threatened by the flames.
He said: “Many people and firefighters have been killed or injured with bad burns and smoke inhalation.
“At a recent fire in South
Australia houses were incinerated. One person was dead and scores of people badly injured.
“Our urban search-and-rescue team was sent out recently to search for a missing person.
“Sadly we found his body down the side of his house. He had already evacuated to a safe area, then decided to return to try to defend his property and was engulfed by a raging inferno.
“My heart bleeds for the wives and children of the firefighters that have made the ultimate sacrifice as they did their best to help others.
“I’ve burst out crying a few times already thinking about them. Many firefighters are utterly exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally.”
The dad-of-two daughters, Gemma and Katie, is a member of one of many fire crews pushed to extreme exhaustion, as they work 22-hour shifts to protect locals.
“We have ended up (at times) working a 22-hour shift, had two hours’ sleep and got woken up by the town’s emergency warning siren.”
Kevin, 55, left, who was recently awarded the South Australian Emergency Services Medal, left school at 16 for an apprenticeship as an agricultural mechanic at George Henderson’s in Haddington.
He went on to work for East Lothian District Council in their Parks and Gardens department before emigrating to Australia.
He added: “My family in Haddington, East Lothian, Fife and Dunfermline have been glued to the news, wondering if I’m on the front line.”