A “tight-knit” western volunteer firefighting brigade in Sydney has been devastated after two firefighters were killed in the battle to contain a blaze that ripped through villages southwest of the city.
Geoffrey Keaton, 32, and Andrew O’Dwyer, 36, from the Horsley Park brigade, were in a truck convoy near the town of Buxton late on Thursday when a tree fell into their path, causing the vehicle to roll off the road.
The two men—both fathers of young children—died at the scene, while three other firefighters were injured and have been hospitalised. They had been able to independently free themselves from the crashed truck.
Keaton—whose father was on Thursday fighting fires in Sydney’s northwest—joined the RFS in 2006 and was the Horsley Park brigade’s deputy captain.
The fatal accident occurred at the end of an exhausting day during which it’s feared some 40 homes were lost in Buxton, Balmoral, Bargo and surrounding areas as the Green Wattle Creek blaze tore through the Wollondilly Shire.
Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said he spent the evening with the families of the dead firefighters.
“To not be coming home after their shift is a tremendous grief and I applaud the families and the loved ones for their remarkable comprehension of what’s been unfolding,” Mr Fitzsimmons told reporters on Friday.
“Both of these men were very well respected, they were very close, they’re a close-knit brigade, they’re a very community-focused brigade, work together, socialise together, they’re very interactive together.
“These men and women, our volunteers, are remarkable individuals.
“They’re ordinary, everyday individuals like you and I that go out and simply want to serve and protect and make a difference in their local community and they don’t ever go out in the knowledge that they might not come home.”
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the deaths of Keaton and O’Dwyer would have a ripple effect across their community and the firefighting fraternity.
Flags will be flown at half-mast throughout NSW on Friday.
“These two brave young men who lost their lives represent, for us, the thousands and thousands of volunteers on the ground today and tomorrow and in the days coming who put their own life, their own safety on the line to protect others,” Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he would be returning to Sydney as soon as possible after the deaths of the firefighters, whom he described as “amongst our most courageous Australians”.
Also on Thursday, three firefighters were treated for burns after their truck at the Green Wattle Creek blaze – which remained at emergency warning level on Friday morning – was enveloped by flames.
Fire and Rescue NSW duty commander Inspector Kernin Lambert had described the bushfires conditions as deadly.
“Around the Balmoral village, we had two fire fronts come together and they merged. We were experiencing firestorm-type conditions,” Lambert told the ABC.
Crews faced winds over 100km/h and 60-metre-high flame fronts, stoking a fire so fierce it sucked the oxygen out of the air.
The NSW RFS officially says 20 homes may have been lost but RFS deputy commissioner Rob Rogers on Friday acknowledged there are reports 40 buildings were destroyed.
Crews also continue to fight the 420,000-hectare Gospers Mountain mega-blaze northwest of Sydney after a southerly wind change drove flames toward Bell in the upper Blue Mountains.
Firefighters are hoping to make the most of lower temperatures across NSW on Friday before extreme weather returns on Saturday.
Northwest winds mean smoke will return to coastal communities while Sydney’s west could hit 45C or higher. The majority of the state away from the coast will experience temperatures in the mid-to-high 40s.
A week-long state of emergency has been declared in NSW and a statewide total fire ban remains in place.
