Terence Dwyer and Stephen Walls
It was a bittersweet reunion for two firefighter cousins who crossed paths while battling the Western Victoria fires, with one lending a hand from ACT and the other a local to the region.
Recently retired CFA Assistant Chief Fire Officer from Grampians region, Stephen Walls stepped into a familiar role as the night Deputy Incident Controller at the Horsham Incident Control Centre on 6 February while ACT Rural Fire Service firefighter and cousin Terence Dwyer was on the fireground finishing his final shift for the week.
Having had experience in a level three control role for over 20 years and as a current volunteer firefighter with Newstead Fire Brigade, Stephen was happy to offer his support and expertise in an area he was well accustomed to.
"When my first night shift started, the Little Desert fire was making a bit of a run to the east on the northern border and ran around 6km in an hour which required a few hours of work and back burning overnight to round that up to reduce the risk to the community," Stephen said.
"The night shift Incident Management Team (IMT) that I was part of was managing the fire overnight and preparing the shift plans for the following day. A big part of this is trying to allocate resources appropriately for the day and debriefing with day shift crews returning in.
"We had interstate crews in a base camp in Horsham and some FFMVic crews in Halls Gap, so we were trying to manage the deployments to make sure people didn't have to travel large distances, given one side of the fire to the other was the best part of two hours."
Although a fleeting exchange, it was the first time Stephen and Terence had worked on the same fire together.
"Our grandmother's family comes from Gymbowen in the Wimmera, immediately south of the Little Desert fire, and was somewhat under threat when it was a making a run," Stephen said.
"We crossed paths at the base camp on my first night, just as he was returning from the fire edge, so it wasn't really a social catch up, but more a debrief," Stephen said.
"I waved him and the other interstate firefighters from ACT and NSW off in the morning from Horsham.
"Terence visits the area more regularly than I do with his family, but we've still got many family and friends down that way, so it was nice to reconnect there, albeit the circumstances."
As a local tradesman and volunteer for 23 years in ACT with a specialty in remote firefighting, Terence was pleased he saw Stephen while assisting an area that means a lot to their family.
"I messaged Stephen to let him know I was heading down there, as he is great at making an effort when he in my neck of the woods, and he just happened to say he was too," Terence said.
"I really enjoyed the deployment down to the Grampians, we were very well looked after at the base camp.
"We were in a strike team of five Ultra Light tankers and worked predominantly along the Western edge of the Grampians, patrolling, mopping up and dealing with some spot overs.
"It was very interesting to work in different types of country and we enjoyed chatting to other crews on the fireground from different parts of the region and worked well with crews from South Australia forestry.
"It was nice to see the improvement in the fire while we were there, as the Wimmera dealt with some difficult weather conditions both through the high temperatures and some bad storms."
