[Dale]

I am unsure if anyone was listening to 3AW this morning just before 9am but Neil Mitchell was speaking to a CFA volunteer that was at the Marysville fires when the firestorm hit.

What this guy described was so haunting and he gave such an unbelievable account of what him and his crew on the truck went through, he described driving through the main st and the relieved look on the residents faces that the "cavalry" had arrived to save them. He described seeing a father with his 2 children (all wearing shorts and either T-Shirts or nothing) looking completely bewildered and wandering aimlessly away from the fire.
He also mentioned that they had just come from the fire itself and were in fact running to save themselves.

I can't recall the whole lot but the way this guy spoke about what he had seen he is going to need counselling for the rest of his life and yet he was still on duty and went to the next position to continue the fight.

When this is over I hope all the volunteers get rewarded and looked after for life, you wouldn't wish what this guy went through on anyone.

Dale

[Sophie_and_Oscars_Mum]

They are all heroes, and should be treated as such.

[Pam]

These men and women are truely amazing people. They are putting their lives on the line for others. They are true HEROES.

[CatsRU]

They are super heros.

[suzie2224]

I just can't imagine what they must have seen or been through.

Truly amazing people.

[Furrballz]

I was just talking to my Aunt who is a Psychologist...she is one who will be counselling the CFA guys...I understand they are taken care of after the trauma of something like this

[Trubador]

Thats good news they get the counselling required. It really does take something special to fight fire and hopefully the residents also affected are offered counselling services as well because I think so many people are going to need the help of this.

[Rachelle]

The volunteers are amazing people. Facing so much, yet continuing on. So much respect for them.

[Chris]

My husband is proudly one of those volunteer"firies" . He has some daunting stories to tell me each time he returns home.... my god its terrible....

Chris
Mitkyina Birmans
Chirnside Park.

[Analog6]

And you can never imagine what they go through, and what they will go through as they work on. If you've never come across a person whose died by fire, beleive me, you would not ever want to. The police and those up there are dealing with this over and over and over again. They are all heroes, we are very deeply in their debt, and we should very definitely honour them. To paraphrase the scriptures, 'their worth is beyond rubies'.

[birmanfanatic]

like Chris, my OH is a Volunteer Firie as well. (has been for 30 years, and he has been through some horrific times)

They do organise counselling for them afterwards, we had it in NSW after the Como disaster. (2 of our friends were in a pool with 2 young girls who were terribly burnt)

[Winscar]

These people are the real hero's of this country and what being an Aussie stands for and should be treated as such.
I only hope that with the Royal Commission they dont cope the backlash that the SES, Police etc did in the Canberra fires. It is a traumatic time for all and we should move forward and learn from such tragedies not lay blame for those trying to ease our pain as was the case.

God bless them all.

[Nahren]

CFA volunteers deserve to be lauded as heroes - true heroes because they are just 'ordinary' people going way beyond the call of duty. I couldn't even imagine doing what they do.