Commandos At Far-flung Fronts
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday January 12, 2002
In a remote valley, deep in the Wollemi National Park, a helicopter spirals out of the sky. Firebird 2-4 nears the cliff-edge landing zone and a cloud of ash erupts as four remote area fire team firefighters emerge to help extinguish the huge Bulga fire on the edge of the Hunter Valley.
The chopper lifts off, leaving the team alone on a burnt ridge to fight a fire without water armed only with an axe, chainsaw, fuel, rakes, tools and supplies to camp overnight.
For the past week, up to seven four-man teams of remote area firefighters from the National Parks and Wildlife Service have done several helicopter drop-ins.
These NPWS ``commandos" are cutting off the fire that has already burnt out 72,000 hectares of the park, and some in the adjoining Yengo National Park.
The fire had threatened pastoral land, mining establishments and vineyards on the edges of the parks. But, in the end, with firefighting teams working around the clock from the parks service's base at Bulga since December 21, the menace has been forced back.
Now, infra-red cameras detect hot spots still burning and the teams are guided to them by flour bombs dropped from helicopters.
During the day, the teams can traverse up to 10 kilometres on foot through tough terrain, cutting helipads from the burnt bush by hand and putting out smouldering logs, carefully avoiding ``widowmakers" burnt trees and branches that fall without warning and dodging boulders as they tumble down the steep hillsides.
But the risks are worth it, says team member Lionel Sarich, who has been fighting remote fires for 17 years. ``You get to go where no-one else can, as well as helping save the local people, property, animals and the wilderness."
A long way from the shores of Sydney Harbour National Park, where they are based, the crews' specialised skills are in demand during a season like this, often requiring them to be sent around the state and away from home for up to five months.
The NPWS deputy incident controller for the fire, Jenny Farrell, said: ``A lot of our fires are in impossibly ridiculous remote locations. We have set ourselves up as remote campaign specialists. A crew can be inserted by helicopter winch to cut a helipad and conduct dry fire fighting, scraping away any burning embers or logs."
The remote teams are the front line of an operation involving more than 300 personnel and five helicopters. They will maintain a presence in the Wollemi area for up to four weeks as long as it takes until the fire is out and every smoking stump, log and ember is extinguished.
© 2002 Sydney Morning Herald