Headed to the front lines: Canobolas firefighters take on Tasmanian blazes
Published Date: 26 Feb 2016
Summary
A WEEK off work and time apart from family and friends with no pay.
That’s what six Canobolas Zone firefighters have sacrificed in order to help fight bushfires that have destroyed more than 100,000 hectares of vegetation, including 11,000 hectares of Tasmania’s World Heritage Wilderness Area.
John Mackie (Lyndhurst), Glen Griffith (Springside), Ken McFarland (Clifton Grove), Ash Morrow (North West Orange) and Andrew Vale and Karina Russell (Waugoola), departed for Tasmania on Sunday where firefighters have been battling devastating blazes for several weeks.
FIRE FIGHT: John Mackie from Lyndhurst Rural Fire Brigade departed for Tasmania on Sunday along with five other Canobolas Zone firefighters. Photo: CONTRIBUTED
Canobolas Zone Rural Fire Service operations officer Brett Bowden gave an insight on Monday as to how the six firefighters will help local authorities contain the blazes in Tasmania.
“The job they have been tasked with as far as I am aware is consolidation of existing containment lines and potentially some back burning operations on the fires in the north-west of the state,” he said.
“There are large, fairly significant fires there that have been burning since early February. They will be relieving a strike team of Sydney based RFS firefighters that were sent down there with 20 RFS fire tankers last week.”
Mr Bowden said according to reports, the fires haven’t grown in recent weeks, however given there are more than 300 kilometres of fire edge to manage, Tasmania just doesn’t have the recourses to go it alone.
Despite the dangers, Mr Bowden said the men and women headed to Tasmania from the Canobolas Zone are ready for whatever is thrown at them.
“At the end of the day fire fighting is a dangerous occupation, but I’m satisfied the guys going are well attuned to the role they are going to play down there,” he said.
“They are well briefed and well supervised and we’re confident they will do a good job and suffer no ill-effects.”
