Awards for Nambucca Valley's firefighters
It has been a brutal fire season for our firies - since September they have been battling blazes, saving lives, homes and precious native habitat, here, in Kempsey, in Bellingen Shire and most recently, on the south coast.
The demands have been relentless and the physical exhaustion and emotional toll cannot be underestimated.
As a token, albeit small, of the deep gratitude so many feel towards these men and women, on Sunday at our Australia Day Ceremony, members of the shire's 15 Rural Fire Service teams and the three town brigades will be honoured with Australia Day Volunteer Awards.
The Guardian News contacted Talarm's RFS Brigade Captain and veteran of 40 years service, Brian Liddell, who (reluctantly) agreed to speak to us about the experience of recent months.
"Back when I started we had leather flappers on long sticks and sacks," Brian said.
"I've never seen anything like this fire season - and I don't want to see anything like that again.
"When we got the call around lunchtime on November 8 we headed up to McHughes Creek Rd and South Arm. The fire was ferocious, it moved so fast, it was noisy, it was smoky and it was scary.
"There were good people in charge, so you are not on your own - there are group captains giving instructions and they were brilliant."
"We worked at six home sites, the pressure was enormous ... by 9pm we'd run out of water and were told to come back. We were also informed that Talarm was on fire. We had no idea what to expect."
Approaching Talarm, Brian and his son Murray saw the area was ablaze, "a fire storm".
"It was unbelievable - we could see Talarm and surrounding areas were under threat."
Brian's wife Judi, daughter Sally and daughter-in-law Mary and their children had luckily already evacuated and were safe. As were other residents in the same situation.
Even after the fires had passed, the daily patrolling continued with crews out checking for hot spots.
"Talarm is not a big brigade but the members are always there when you need them. I totalled our hours up the other day and it came to 1150 hours from November through to December 23.
"What we have done is no better or worse than all the other crews.
"This award is to the service as a whole. Everyone has worked so hard - it has been a very exhausting time."
Brian said he was looking forward to some down-time with the brigade: "Hopefully we can have our Christmas party some time soon!"
The RFS brigades are: Argents Hill, Eungai, Grays Crossing/Taylors Arm, Gumma, Missabotti, Headquarters in Macksville, Newee Creek, Girralong, Scotts Head, South Arm, Talarm, Utungun, Valla, Valla Beach and Warrell Creek, as well as NSW Fire and Rescue members for Bowraville, Nambucca Heads and Macksville.
