Fire crews in eastern Australia continue to deal with catastrophic wildfires that have burned millions of hectares since late 2019. (Ross Nunn/Queensland Fire and Emergency Services)

By Alex Rawnsley

AUSTRALIA FIRES

‘Completely overwhelmed with fire:’ Parksville firefighter returns from Australian tour of duty

Jan 20, 2020 | 3:13 PM

PARKSVILLE — A local Coastal Fire Centre officer is back home following a stint battling historic wild fires down under.

Kevin Cochrane returned home to Parksville on Jan. 9 after a 38-day deployment to support local crews fighting unprecedented wildfires in eastern Australia.

“We heard over and over again from the locals that they’d never seen fire behaviour like this before and never ever in history witnessed a fire season like this,” Cochrane said.

The fires have burned over 15 million hectares of land, spread smoke across the east coast and as far as New Zealand and South America.

“Every tactic they used to stop these fires wasn’t working, windy conditions threw fire embers all over and started new fires,” Cochrane said. “It just made it so difficult to control these fires, some of which were hundreds and hundreds of thousands of hectares in size.”

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Cochrane provided a behind-the-scenes role managing aircraft operations in addition to guiding support for ground crews.

He was one of 22 professionals that made up an initial wave of assistance. Since then, dozens more Canadian firefighters have answered growing calls for help from the Australian government for help.

“All the crews I worked with were just so ecstatic to have us over there,” Cochrane said. “They’re exhausted after working long days for many many months, going back to September.”

The tour meant Cochrane missed Christmas and New Years festivities with his family.

“The fully understand and appreciate the need for help down there to allow me to assist other folks in desperate need,” Cochrane said.

It was Cochrane’s second visit to Australia. He was deployed to the Australian state of Victoria in 2007 to help fight what was then the longest continuously burning bushfire in the country’s history.

Recent rains have helped crews in several areas, however fires still rage across much of the eastern coast with more hot weather and winds forecast in the coming weeks.

alex.rawnsley@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley