Local firies travel to SA frontline
Published Date: 07 Jan 2015
Summary
A GROUP of six Orana RFS firefighters make up the second band of reinforcements to fight the South Australian bushfires.
Scott Toole, Marice Johnston, Colin and Rhonda Buckler and Paul Vaughn began the trip interstate at 4pm yesterday.
The personnel from Eulomogo, Ballimore, Dubbo and Emmagool brigades will replace the previous group and fight fires on the front-line for five days.
Photos of the firefighting in South Australia from Orana RFS firefighter Danny Lummis.
RFS Orana team manager Superintendent Lyndon Weiland (pictured) will also fly over with the group to assist with incident management.
Superintendent Weiland said large operations are "part of the job" and he is more than happy to help tackle the now 12,000-hectare fire zone.
Orana RFS team manager Lyndon Weiland preparing to travel to South Australia to assist in the Sampson Flat bush fire. Photo: HANNAH SOOLE.
"South Australians have helped NSW, it's time for NSW to pay back that debt," he said.
The Orana team manager said the fire has devastated the SA landscape and it is difficult to say how long it will take to control completely without seeing it in person.
When asked if he thought SA Country Fire Service (CFS) personnel have been lucky to contain the fire Superintendent Weiland responded "firefighters make their own luck".
He credited the containment of the fire to good firefighting strategies by the Victorian, SA and NSW firefighting teams.
The Sampson Flat fire has been likened to the devastating 1983 Ash Wednesday fires, which killed 28 people.
Photos of the firefighting in South Australia from Orana RFS firefighter Danny Lummis.
Deployment to the fire zone will be an amazing experience for Superintendent Weiland and his team, but he said it will not be the most devastating he has attended.
"For the other members representing the Orana team it will mean a lot to them.
"They will meet a lot of people from other brigades from SA, NSW and Victoria and have some amazing experiences."
Superintendent Weiland said the Orana region and NSW will be represented well interstate.
"Dubbo is very lucky that we have committed people who do the job because they want to do it," he said.
"They don't say they haven't got the time- they make the time.
"It's great their employers are letting them go too, or those who are self-employed, like farmers, are sacrificing to go and help out."
"The Victorian (Black Saturday) bushfires in 2009 were devastating- lots of lives were lost," Superintendent Weiland said.
