Kiwi firefighter back from Australian bushfires describes 'unbelievable' devastation

Monday, 18 November 2019

A Kiwi firefighter just back from fighting the raging wildfires in New South Wales says he's never seen anything like it.

Aucklander Scott Marchant had been sent to tackle bushfires in Canada and the US before, but the deputy principal rural fire officer said the sheer size of the Australian fires and the devastation they had caused was on a different scale.

Twenty-six Kiwi firefighters flew to Australia on Sunday night to join the fight against the fires that have claimed four lives and destroyed hundreds of homes. What faced them was 'unbelievable,' Marchant said: fire as far as you can see, everywhere you look.

He said that for the two weeks he was there, he didn't see an inch of blue sky: 'it was just smoke'.

Deputy principal rural fire officer Scott Marchant was fighting the wildfires from the air.

* Australia bushfires: 'Catastrophic' warning for Sydney as temperatures soar

* Bushfires in Australia kill three people, set record as 'armageddon' hits east coast**

The Australian wildfires burning in New South Wales, as captured by Southern district deputy principal rural fire officer Hamish Angus.

The days were long, up to 14 hours. The hours weren't always enough to beat the fire, though.

'It's really hard to go back the next day and see the house you were looking after burnt and gone,' he said.

'That's really devastating.'

Michael Ihaka said the Australian fires are a different ball game to what he's seen before.

Seeing what the fire had ripped from people was one of the toughest things, he said. A lot of people lost everything: their livelihoods, their houses, even family members.

It's hard to comprehend the scale of the fires, he said. There's nothing in New Zealand that compares.

In his second week, he was looking after five of the 60 fires that were burning. Those five fires were the same size as the whole Auckland region, he said. 'Just massive.'

Marchant arrived home on Friday. Leaving was emotional, he said.

'I know everyone's tired over there. The firefighters over there are tired, the pilots are tired, the people are tired, the community's tired.'

Michael Ihaka from Whangārei was one of those heading over on Sunday to pick up some of the load.

The crew leader said the fire's heat and volatility were the first things on his mind.

He was deployed to Victoria earlier this year, but said this deployment would be a 'whole new ball game'. High winds, low humidity and dry fuel meant the fire was highly unpredictable.

There was a huge sense of responsibility, he said, but at the end of the day they were there to do a job.

'We're here to help our brothers and sisters in Australia.'