The Big Picture
THERE GOES MY HERO Local community heroes Robert Hines and Gary Smith teamed up with a fleet of farm fire units and the Rural Fire Service to protect property and lives from the second massive fire front in the Tenterfield shire in four years.
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Words MICHAEL BURT Photography ANT ONG
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obert Hines is the sort of bloke you want around when bushfires are threatening the Tenterfield region. So is his fellow Homestead Rural Fire Service (RFS) volunteer Gary Smith. They have 70 years of firefighting experience between them, and have battled hundreds of fires together since Robert joined as a volunteer in 1984 and Gary in 1993. They are born and bred in the far northern region and know the lay of the land on just about every inch of the Tenterfield Shire. When a series of fires menaced Tenterfield and surrounds on 31 October, Robert and Gary fired up the Homestead RFS brigade truck and headed out to confront what Robert described as the worst conditions he had seen. “I did not think we would see anything as bad again as 2019 and 2020, but this was three times as bad in some places,” Robert said. “The flames got up to 40 feet high when the wind got behind them and it was coming into places like Wallangarra, Jennings and Tenterfield and down to Sandy Gully. “It was just horrendous. The fuel load was big after a couple of good years and the African lovegrass just explodes when it gets going. You couldn’t get in front of the fires. The choppers and the planes were doing the best they could do.” Robert credits the aerial drops of fire retardant and the “massive amount of feet on the ground”, which included those of farmers and RFS members from other local brigades, for saving property and lives from a catastrophic situation. Gary, who is a local farmer from Leeches Gully, agrees. The former diesel mechanic has also contributed to local fire management as a fleet manager for the Tenterfield Shire Council. “It was a very intense few days,” Gary says. “Everyone jumps in to get the job done. That’s what happens in a lot of small country towns.” Gary also praised the efforts of local farmers and their fleet of farm fire units.
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THE FARMER
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2024
“We wouldn’t have saved some of the houses if there weren’t farmers there with their fire units on the back of utes. “They were marvellous, as there just wasn’t enough units to go around when everything went pear shaped.” Robert, a local fencing and weed control contractor, said he was cajoled into joining the Boonoo Boonoo brigade at the age of 30. That brigade folded a few years later and he has been a member of the Homestead RFS brigade ever since, including the last 13 years as captain. The grandfather of five has lived in the Queensland border village of Wallangarra with his wife Helen for 50 years. While he does lament some of the bureaucracy now facing RFS volunteers, Robert is proud of the organisation and has accepted an offer to become RFS Deputy Group Officer. He was also presented with a RFS Life Membership award in November. “You do feel proud that you are doing something for your community and your country, and there is a lot of camaraderie between the brigades,” Robert said. GRASS ROOTS CARE
Tenterfield Mayor Bronwyn Petrie said farm fire units played an enormous role in preventing fires from raging across the entire shire. “They were the first responders in many cases. We had seven farm fire units on our farm when it first started and the RFS were able to move onto the next fires,” Bronwyn said. “Most of our RFS members are farmers, but there are also a lot out there with their own slip-on units or spray units. Lots of people said to me that farmers had saved their houses.” Bronwyn, who is a member of the NSW Farmers’ Association, applauds RFS moves to test the capabilities and practical applications of farm fire units and to improve communication channels with farmers. “RFS had a stand at the 2023 NSW Farmers annual conference, and they demonstrated a fit-forpurpose unit that farmers could slip on to their utes,” she says. >
