TENSION hung thick in the air like smoke from the 100 kilometres of fire front Robert Day faced.
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The Tamworth Rural Fire Service firefighter put up his hand to help those battling tragic world heritage blazes in Tasmania.
“They needed more boots on the ground,” Mr Day said.
“It’s exhausting, that’s the only way to describe it is absolutely exhausting but you get a real sense of pride from being able to assist people when they really need it so that exhaustion is a small price to pay for doing something like this.”
It was hot and windy and the small community of Maydena had come under threat from ember and ash off the Gell River fire.
Residents waited as the fire inched closer.
“It was a little sad really, the locals were quite sad to see so much precious wilderness going up in smoke,” Mr Day said.
“It’s not a particularly pleasant conversation to have but I think the locals handled it well overall.
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“There was definitely a sense of tension there, they knew the fire was coming and had a plan when the fire got to close, cars were ready to leave.”
At Fenton Base Camp hundreds of firefighters, Mr Day included, returned to a tent city each night to prepare themselves from the day ahead on lounges bought from Vinnies.
“Within the ranks of RFS it’s a very strong sense of camaraderie, that comes from the training and understanding what people are doing,” Mr Day said.
New Zealand forces sent crews to the fires as well, and most nights they would share stories, watch Netflix and play cards to wind down.
The Gell River fire has already burnt through thousands of hectares of forest.