I COMPLAINED a bit last week.
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About my clothes and hair stinking of smoke. And no I don’t (smoke, that is) and neither does anyone else sitting around me in the office.
You see I smelt of smoke because I spent part of last week chasing fires.
I had to change my outfit and wash my hair. Not once, but twice.
What a nightmare.
Right?
Last week, we had a taste of what the fire season will look like.
The first Code Red day in 10 years and authorities were expecting the worst. And for some, they got it.
The Burgoine family lost hundreds of thousands of dollars after a fast-moving fire ripped through its Strathallan farm on Thursday.
As Andrew Burgoine walked me through his blackened property, past his dead calves and melted machinery, tears welled up in his eyes when I asked him ‘what happens now?’
What can he do but keep going?
Because for him, this is his livelihood. As a fifth-generation farmer, he doesn’t know anything different.
And perhaps the only reason he will be able to keep going is through the selfless efforts of the CFA.
Our volunteer firefighters worked in the most catastrophic of conditions to save as much of the farm as they could.
Howling 100km/h winds, alight themselves with embers swept up from burning paddocks didn’t stop them, almost zero visibility certainly didn’t stop them, smoke-filled air that demanded breathing apparatus didn’t stop them.
They just kept going, some of them for more than eight hours without so much as a break.
I happened to be out there in the afternoon and stood outside for five minutes before I couldn’t breathe.
I became so ill, I had to get back in the car. I remember thinking, ‘how do our firefighters do it?’ And that’s just the point
They don’t do it because they have to, they don’t do it for the recognition.
And they certainly don’t do it for the money.
They do it because they care – because they’re part of a community, part of something bigger than themselves.
Our local CFA brigades even sent volunteer strike teams into northern NSW, to join hundreds of other men and women, just like them, battle the killer blazes there, and to protect properties.
And while they gallantly help all and any strangers in need, their station mates left behind were there to maintain our safety, to do all they can to save our homes and properties from the fierce flames that swept the district.
Often astonishing efforts that too often go unrecognised, or at least taken for granted.
Our CFA members are volunteers and when their pagers go off, any time of the day or night, they immediately sacrifice their own happiness and wellbeing, take time away from their work and families to put themselves in harm’s way.
For no reward. We live in a largely selfish world, where many people are out for themselves, unaware of many of the things going on around them.
A world where people only work for money and volunteering is becoming less common.
Imagine a world where we didn’t have the CFA, Search and Rescue or the SES? A scary thought, right? So next time you complain about buses not operating or roads closed because of a Code Red fire day, or smoke ruining your hair or clothes, look at the bigger picture.
Appreciate how lucky you are, That you are not stuck in a fire.
Your children are safe.
Your property is protected.
And take the opportunity to thank a volunteer firefighter.
For everything they do.
Fighting fires, assisting at car crashes, rescuing animals, cleaning chemical spills, and, yes, even freeing drunks from the elevator at The American (a common call-out we have been told).
Our firies are there, any time of the day and night.
When you need them the most.
The least you can say is ‘thank you’ to those who have your back.
Because it will be too late when they’re gone. And yes, a simple thanks might not seem like much to you, but it will mean the world to them.