by Duncan Murray
SYDNEY, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Christmas will provide little respite for many firefighters in Australia this year, with plans instead to take full advantage of favourable weather conditions to help fight monster blazes.
While traditionally Christmas is a day spent with family, roughly 2,000 members of the volunteer-based New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS), will instead continue to defend lives and homes across the state.
One of those volunteering to leave her family for the smoke and heat of the fire grounds is Captain of Wamberal Rural Fire Brigade Angela Burford, who also works as a media officer with the RFS.
"In my brigade there's four of us, including myself who have put our hand up to go out on the truck tomorrow to do this very important work," Burford told Xinhua on Tuesday.
Joining Burford on the truck will be a postal worker, construction foreman and a university student, all of whom are also part-time volunteer firefighters.
While it is difficult sacrificing time with family, Burford said that herself and her crew recognise the vital importance of the work they are doing, and the need to take advantage of favourable weather conditions where possible.
"While we are missing out on Christmas Day with our families, that's the commitment that we make wherever we can to try and protect communities," she said.
Burford and her team will travel south from their brigade on the Central Coast, to the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, where in the past week alone an estimated 100 homes have been lost.
NSW RFS Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said that the Christmas period will be vital for getting a handle on the fires in that region if further homes and lives are to be saved.
"The next few days are going to be very important to try and get (back burns) in place and then hopefully it won't be so much of a risk as we go into the next batch of warm weather," Rogers said.
Statewide, the NSW RFS consists of over 70,000 highly trained volunteers, who despite being a vital line of defence between communities and fires, are largely uncompensated for their work.
Last week, two NSW RFS personnel were killed when a falling tree caused their truck to veer off the road -- tragically both men left behind young children who will spend this Christmas, and many more without their Dads.
While generally representatives of the organization say that the RFS is proud to be volunteer based, the scale of this season's emergency has placed unprecedented strain on many firefighters and their families.
The sacrifice has added to calls for better compensation of volunteers, some of whom have been using annual leave entitlements from work to maintain an income, although this uses time intended for personal holidays.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that volunteer firefighters who are also federal government employees will be given four weeks' paid leave to help fight the blazes.
"With bushfire seasons starting earlier, one of the things I've heard on the ground is that some people are dipping into their other leave entitlements to stay out there battling blazes," Morrison said.
"Today's announcement is about ensuring our volunteer firefighters can keep focused on the job at hand."
Morrison urged other large employers to do the same although he acknowledged that the solution does not directly address those working for smaller businesses or who are self employed.
While Burford says that work leave entitlements are important, she emphasised that the community's gratitude offers its own immeasurable reward.
"It's very heart-warming to see that they really appreciate what we're doing to protect them," she said.
While missing their families, the bond between members of the RFS is strong and Burford said it is worth remembering that they chose to be part of the organization -- through the good times and bad.
"Even though we're not with our family, we're with our RFS family, because that's what it is for us, it's like a second family. So we don't necessarily see it as missing out, we're the ones that have put our hands up to do this," Burford said.
"But it's also very important for us to recognize why we do it -- we're giving up our time to protect communities."
