WITH sweat dripping off his brow, Muswellbrook’s Dwayne Graham has certainly felt the heat in the past month.
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Mr Graham, from NSW Rural Fire Service’s Edinglassie brigade, recently joined the interstate challenge of fighting the many blazes across the most southern state.
The local resident has been a part of the local RFS brigade more than a decade.
And, while crews respond to call outs on a regular basis in the Upper Hunter, the methods required in Tasmania were different.
This was Mr Graham’s first deployment with the Hunter Valley Remote Area Unit (RAU).
The fires they were sent to were unable to be accessed by truck.
Firefighters are lowered by aircraft, and used dry methods of firefighting to ease the blaze.
They also needed to carry food in case they couldn’t get out for an extended time.
As well as the team on the ground, the NSW RFS sent the Thor C-130 water bomber, based at Richmond, to help.
The Hunter Valley RAU was established in 2015, and includes brigades from the Muswellbrook and Singleton shires.
Trevor Woolley from Martindale is currently on a five-day deployment, and two from Darlington – Rory Firkins and Hayden Metcalf – are returned from a seven-day trip.
Mr Graham said he heard it was the driest spring on record for Tasmania.
“They’ve had a number of storms come through, lightning strikes,” he said.
“There are a huge number of fires there.
“It was a great opportunity to get down there and help the Tasmania Fire Service.
“Helping people out in their time of need is really rewarding.
“They’ve helped us before.”
During his time in the RFS, let alone his Tasmanian deployment, Mr Graham has formed close friendships with other firefighters.
He said the community of Tasmania was very supportive of all the personnel that took time to help them.
He assisted with a number of fires that had different vegetation and range.
“Every time we go to a fire, we learn something new,” he said.
“We’ve all gained skills going down there.
“The remote area teams in the RFS work together a lot.
“We’re learning lots from people that are very experienced in the area.
“A couple of tools I expected to work there weren’t working.”
Despite the fires, Mr Graham was treated to a wonderful aerial view over Cradle Mountain.
The local volunteer said helping people is a wonderful thing.
“The interagency cooperation has been massive,” he said.
“They all worked in so well together and it has been a big team effort.”
