Firefighters ready to head interstate if needed
Published Date: 29 Jan 2015
Summary
LOCAL firefighters are willing and ready to head to Victoria if the call comes for assistance.
By Charlie Whiteley
That is the message from Rural Fire Service (RFS) Orana team manager Superintendent Lyndon Weiland, who said while he hadn't received a call as of Monday morning, it could come at any time and they were ready to offer as much help as was required.
With well over 100 homes destroyed from bushfires at locations such as Wye River and Separation Creek, the NSW Rural Fire Service has, so far, been providing aviation support while continuing to liaise with the relevant officials about putting firefighters on the ground.
Superintendent Weiland said if a call for assistance came through they would be ready to depart immediately.
"We haven't had any requests at this stage but we are always on short notice," he said.
"It (call) can happen at any time.
"Our volunteers always respond to assist outside their area whether it be in NSW or another state."
Superintendent Weiland said it was difficult to predict whether teams from the Orana region would be called down to Victoria.
"There are a lot of other closer zones so you'd think they might get a call first but in saying that we've been to South Australia and Western Australia so you never know," he said.
Looking locally, a farmer 30 kilometres south of Wellington had a shearing shed valued at $360,000 destroyed by fire on December 23, which was believed to have been caused by an electrical fault.
With 23.4 millimetres (mm) of rain falling in Dubbo for the 24 hour period to 9am December 23 and another 12.2mm for the 24 hour period to 9am December 27, a green tinge has come across much of the grass in and around the local district.
Despite this, Superintendent Weiland said it was still highly important people take the necessary precautions with regards to fire safety.
"People need to be very careful as there is still a lot of dry grass out there," he said.
"If you are doing things like welding or grinding you need to have firefighting equipment with you and be doing it first thing in the morning or later in the day."
