Northern fire fighters reinforce Tumut effort

More than 80 Forests NSW staff from the Hunter Valley north to the Queensland border have been sent to the Tumut area to reinforce fire fighters battling a 10,000 ha fire in pine plantations.

Some staff have taken a mixture of equipment including fire tankers and slip on fire fighting units on the back of 4WD vehicles.

Others have been airlifted to Tumut to replace fire fighters who have come off shift after the 24-hour a day battle since the Billo Road fire began in Buccleuch State Forest on 10 December.

“There are more than 250 people fighting this blaze,” said Forests NSW Central Region manager Kathy Jones, who has sent 40 people south with more on standby.

“This is a concerted effort by fire fighting agencies including the Rural Fire Service, the NSW Fire Brigade, and Forests NSW.

“There have been up to eight helicopters and 10 bulldozers assisting in establishing containment lines.”

Ms Jones said that it was fortunate the area north of the Hunter had enjoyed better fire conditions over the past week to allow the release of so many fire fighters.

“Forests NSW employs a well-proven system of moving fire fighting staff, from on-ground fire fighters to incident control team members, around the state to combat fires as they break out,” Ms Jones said.

“One of the deputy fire controllers is Steve Rayson, the wood supply manager for native forests out of Coffs Harbour.

“A large number of fire fighters have just returned from helping combat fires in the Pilliga State Forests, and some have wide experience fighting fires in the United States in the joint Australian-New Zealand deployments that have been engaged there for the past four years.”

Ms Jones said the fire effort would continue for a number of weeks to come as it was essential to black out pine fires which had a tendency to re-ignite from smouldering pine needles.