MEET Valentine, a brushtail possum saved by a firefighter in Wednesday’s blaze near Thurgoona’s Kinross Woolshed.
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The marsupial suffered burns to her feet, legs and tail but is expected to make a full recovery thanks to Thurgoona Rural Fire Service volunteer firefighter Robin Hall.
Mr Hall found the injured possum in the low fork of a burnt tree.
“I brushed against something and I looked around and there she was holding her paws out.”
He placed her in a duffle bag while crews finished fighting the blaze, the day before Valentine’s Day.
The fire meant Mr Hall did not get to the shops in time to buy a Valentine’s Day gift for his girlfriend Katie Vernon, who is also a volunteer firefighter.
He joked with the other firefighters she would want to keep the possum once she saw it.
And so the possum was called Valentine, and is now in the care of WIRES.
WIRES volunteer Hazel Cook is applying special burn cream to Valentine’s paws twice a day.
Mr Hall and Miss Vernon hope to help release Valentine back into her natural territory once she has made a full recovery.