Fire rescue volunteers - Christian & Terry

Summer in Australia is a great time for some sun and beach but there’s more to this hot and dry season. 

Bushfires occur more frequently during this time and can cause devastating damage to properties and loss of human and animal lives. 

Christian Roden and Terry Deboick were moved by what they saw on television. The devastation of these bushfires did to towns and farmland. The firefighters defending the affected areas for many days without much sleep or rest.  
 
These spurred them to become fire rescue volunteers as they wanted to help the firefighters and support the residents in distress.

On Christian’s first deployment, he found it quite distressing to see what a fire can do in a short span of time. His job was to respond to emergency calls and monitor spot fires on local farm areas.

In January 2016, Christian and Terry were deployed to Yarloop & Waroona in the South West of Western Australia.  The bushfire that lasted 17 days claimed two lives, burnt over 70,000 hectares of land and destroyed more than 180 homes, buildings and farmland.

Terry was sent to other deployments in the past but has never seen a fire as tragic as this one.  He was a lieutenant with Kalbarri Fire Rescue for over 10 years where he responds to emergency calls, contains spot fires in containment areas and protects lives of the local residents.

Terry and Christian work as Plant Operators for GMA’s mine site in Port Gregory, Western Australia.   

By Sandy Stock-Standen, GMA Mining Australia