To Volunteer or Not to Volunteer: That Time I Tried Something New and Joined the RFS

2013 was a hot dry year, with multiple record breaking heatwaves, and several notable bushfires across the state, including the Winmalee fires in September. The 2012-2013 summer was dubbed the Angry Summer, and as the drought conditions continued through the winter, October was dubbed Red October. 

The State Mine Fire was burning to my North, and I remember listening to the RFS radio stream when my wife suggested that maybe I should join. It got me wondering if the RFS needed extra volunteers. At the time, I was reasonably healthy and thought I could make a good contribution. I was living in Lawson and had a friend who volunteered at the Hazelbrook Rural Fire Brigade. I told him I was considering joining, and he suggested I go down to the fire station on Wednesday night to meet the team on Training night and complete the paperwork.

That Wednesday night, I visited the station, I met the people there, and had a quick tour of the station but due to the ongoing State Mine fire, I was handed the forms and asked to return them completed the next day. However, what was about to unfold the following day was something no one could have prepared for.

The Next Day - 17 October 2013

I was at work in Macquarie Park. It was hot, dry, and windy. The fire danger rating was Extreme, and a Total Fire Ban was in place, but everything seemed mostly in order. However, I was keeping an eye (or ear?) on things, listening to the public stream of the RFS radio as the State Mine fire continued to burn. It rapidly spread to the east, but it was far enough away that I wasn’t too concerned.

Sometime during the afternoon, things started to change very rapidly! A new fire had started in Springwood and it was getting bad quickly. Without knowing too much about the direction it could travel, it didn’t take long for me to consider that the trains may be impacted and would prevent me from getting home. If the train line was impacted and roads closed, I might not get home for days. 

My manager at the time (who was a complete asshat) didn’t want me to leave, implying it wasn’t serious enough. I didn’t give a shit what he thought and left anyway, while my colleagues wished me good luck as I headed out the door.

As I left the office, the sky was already filled with a massive, intimidating column of black smoke. My heart rate increased, and even though I knew the fire wasn’t heading toward my home it was troubling. There was nothing good about the way it looked. Even writing about it almost 12 years later still makes my heart rate bump up which is strange considering I never saw the fire close up.

I continued listening to the RFS radio on the train on my way home trying to understand what all the radio messages meant. Some of it was pretty clear, but it was only a small snippet of what was really happening on the ground. I left one earphone out so I could overhear the discussions on the carriage. The atmosphere on the train was tense, and it became clear that I was on a carriage with people who lived or knew people who were right where the fire was. There were passengers making "Where are you?" calls, and some that wouldn't pick up. I remember this because I found it annoying they were using the speakerphone and the ringing was loud enough for everyone to hear. There was one woman who was saying to other passengers she lived on a street that I had heard mentioned on the radio many times. I wanted to tell her but knew that would not be helpful, so I stayed quiet.

Eventually, my train continued past Springwood, and up the mountain to home just like it did every normal day as if nothing major was going on only kilometres away. It was all very surreal and even though the fire did not directly affect me, it still made me feel helpless. If only I had joined the year beforehand then maybe I could have been helping fight the fire. 

Information about the fire was minimal, so I went to bed just like any normal day. But when I woke up the news was filled with early reports of major losses. I’m still impressed that no one was killed, and I personally think that had a lot to do with it being a weekday when most people were at work and kids were at school. Once the RFS completed their final count, 193 buildings had been destroyed and over 100 more damaged in just a single afternoon, with even more losses across the state from other fires.

Back to reality the office

Strolling into the office the next day, my manager played the fake empathy card, pretending to care if I was alright and worried for my wellbeing, I know it was fake and it was disguising. Other than the fire being all over the news, I think what really made it feel real for him was the thousands of black, charred leaves scattered across the roads and around the office, even though the office was around 50 km away from the fire. It’s hard to ignore the severity when the evidence is right in front of you.

Taking my paperwork back to the Hazelbrook fire station the next day wasn’t an option as they were too busy dealing with the fire. Processing was delayed for a couple of months, but my membership was eventually approved in early 2014, and I began my training.

A few days later I thought about the houses that were lost, and that I had no record of my own, so I took a few photos around the yard and house, as "before" shots, if something like this happened to my house in the future.

10 years of volunteering, with many more to come!

It has been 11 years since, but I do still think about that day in Springwood. I guess I could describe it as helplessness, along with other emotions I felt watching from a distance. I still get that now even when I’m on the other end of the radio but I'm not physically there, to help, to do something but it reminds me why I joined, so I could be one of the people who ran at the fire when everyone else ran away, to at least try and do something useful.

Since joining, I’ve met an incredible group of people, not just from my local brigade but from other local brigades and even other districts. I’ve deployed alongside out-of-area crews and made many memories along the way. Strangely though, as I'm the one who's often behind the camera, I cannot find more than 2 photos of me dressed in my RFS gear!

The experience has given me valuable qualifications and skills I never thought I’d learn and gotten hands-on with some cool equipment and tech. I can now (safely) use a chainsaw, know basic first aid, navigation etc. and I’ve picked up more practical knowledge than I ever imagined possible. 

It’s been fun and I love everything the role throws at me, even when the job can be intimidating. Like when isn't staring at a wall of hot fire just a little intimidating? At the end of the day, it’s all worth it for the people I volunteer with and the communities we protect. It gives me that warm fuzzy feeling every now and then knowing that I can, and have done something useful, even if it is a job as simple as hoseing down a smouldering tree that's been hit by lightning.

Over the next few years, I aim to step up as a crew leader and take my volunteering to the next level. My advice to anyone else who is thinking about joining is to just go for it. What have you got to lose? If you don't like it, you can stop. There are no membership fees, so just do it! Once you start, you’ll only wish you’d done it sooner!

Let me make this easier, here's the RFS volunteering information page and a big red button to apply 😉