A volunteer firefighter killed by a falling tree was a veteran whose brigade had recently travelled hundreds of kilometres to help battle a northern NSW blaze.
Leo Fransen’s crew from Diamond Beach, on the mid-north coast, was on its first day of a three-day deployment to fight the 21,370ha fire when he was struck by a falling tree on Thursday.
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NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner Rob Rogers said the tree hit the brigade leader “very, very hard” and, despite the first-aid efforts of other volunteers and paramedics, he died.
Fransen was a 13-year veteran of his local brigade who had recently been made captain.
He leaves behind a wife, two children and a large extended family.
“This obviously is a significant impact to not only his family but to the RFS itself,” Rogers said on Friday.
“It is a tight, family-type unit, the RFS, and these things are incredibly difficult for everybody involved and we will obviously be continuing to support (his family) as best we can.”
The Hudson Fire at Glengarry, near Walgett in north-western NSW, has been burning since Sunday, likely sparked by a lightning strike.
It has destroyed six buildings and on Wednesday it triggered an emergency warning, although by Thursday night it was being brought under control.
Fransen’s death was a reminder of the dangers confronting firefighters ahead of a likely “very difficult” bushfire season, NSW Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib said.
“The 70,000 volunteers that give up their time to protect our communities are absolutely heroic and this is the worst news that you can imagine that reverberates through the organisation at this time,” he said.
The fatal incident follows the October death of an RFS volunteer who died after experiencing a medical episode on a fireground in the Kyogle region, in the state’s northeast.
Total fire bans are in place for two regions in northern NSW on Friday, including the area surrounding Walgett although the risk is expected to ease over the weekend.
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