Newee Creek firefighter returns from Alberta’s big burn Coffs Coast Highlight Section Nambucca Valley by News Of The Area - Modern Media - August 4, 2023 Firefighter Todd Fenech about to catch a plane to Canada TODD Fenech is a busy man. He is in two fire brigades – the Newee Creek Rural Fire Brigade, and the lower North Coast Remote Area Firefighter Team. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au And then there’s his day job is as a maintenance officer at the Macksville Hospital. Todd went over to help the Canadian firefighters battle their blazes for about six weeks in Alberta and returned mid July. He was amongst about fifty RFS volunteers and then was split into a twenty-man pack team. “It was great meeting people and learning the different environment and fire techniques,” he told News of the Area. “People who went over are called ‘arduous firefighters’, meaning they pass a fitness and medical test every twelve months – to prove they are capable of travelling certain distances in the bush, using hand tools and dry firefighting techniques.” In arduous and remote area firefighting, there are no fire trucks, so they usually get driven or dropped by helicopter into a set area and then they walk the lines and use hand tools to carve out lines to try to slow, and put out, fires. It’s back-breaking work because it’s hand digging the ground with a specialised pickaxe. They then make a path kilometres long, so when the fire edge comes to it, it basically burns itself out. Then they bring in portable pumps and source water from a dam or river and black out the edge. “When I went on the deployment, no-one knew each other, we met in Sydney, then got a team sorted into twenty,” said Todd. “My group were fantastic people to work with as they shared their experience of what they’ve done over their years in the Rural Fire Service.” Todd has been with the RFS since 2015, and it was his first time overseas, but he has fought fires in Queensland, Tasmania in 2017 and in the 2019/2020 NSW fires. “The main reason I joined is because I wanted to find the best thing to do to help my community and my country,” he said. “I’d do it again 100 percent definitely, despite the job being dangerous, but the way we use our techniques and skills and qualifications, we couldn’t be any more safer if we do the techniques right.” By Mary KEILY Aussie firefighters worked alongside Canadians, Todd is the second on the right holding the Australian flag.
