NSW firefighter death a tragic reminder of danger

Communities need to take responsibility for fire

The death of a NSW firefighter this week has demonstrated just how potentially dangerous the job can be for volunteers.

The male volunteer was working on a fire at Stanford Merthyr, near Cessnock, when he suffered a heart attack on Thursday.

Fellow volunteers used a defibrillator before the man was taken to hospital by ambulance, but he died shortly after.

RFS Southern Border operational services coordinator Margaret Wehner said the death was a reminder that firefighting could be a strenuous occupation.

“It’s awful for the family and the service is taking it very hard,” she said.

Heart attacks were the most common cause of death for firefighters in the field.

“We’ve been very fortunate in NSW that we don’t have many deaths attributed to firefighting activity unless they have a heart condition,” Ms Wehner said.

“These are people giving their time and energy for nothing.”

She said Albury firefighters were passionate about their work and volunteer recruitment numbers in the region were positive.

The Border’s spring weather had turned on the extremes of heat and rain, then recent “messy days” of dangerous winds.

“This season has been very odd in that we had two weeks of very hot weather, then three weeks of rain,” Ms Wehner said.

“There’s a fair bit more grass.”

But she said that danger was just an average fire season for Albury.

For the past few months, the RFS has worked with councils and residents to ensure properties, roadsides and paddocks were prepared for summer.

Firefighters also inspected individual properties at some of the highest-risk towns, such as Splitters Creek, where residents could be trapped because of one road in and out of town.

The time for that roadside and rubbish burning has passed and residents should be thinking about home fire plans.

“It can just be dangerous, you don’t want to take the risk,” Ms Wehner said.

“Our main causes of fire are lightning and machinery so it comes down to people being mindful of what they’re doing.”

As well as feet on the ground, Albury also had water-bombing aircraft ready for the sky.

The planes and helicopters were contracted to Albury and NSW for the summer.

The Southern Border district also had an agreement with the CFA to share resources with its Victorian counterparts.

Ms Wehner said the largest aircraft, Hercules, left Albury to fight serious fires in South Australia this week, but would be back when needed.