When most people go on a holiday, they indulge in too much food, purchase overpriced souvenirs and just have a jolly good time … but not Chris Eggleston.
The Bacchus Marsh CFA volunteer went on a swagging trip to Western Australia last month.
He was refuelling his car at Mt Barnett station when he heard there was a major grassfire in the heart of Kimberley, in the country’s far north-west.
The dry, dense scrubland fuelled the fire over several days, raging along a180 kilometre-long front.
Mr Eggleston, who’s been a volunteer firefighter for the past 37 years, decided he’d help out the WA fireys.
“There was nothing heroic about it,” Mr Eggleston insists. “There wasn’t any kicking doors or dragging people out.
“But the stations up there don’t get a lot of support, or have a lot of resources, because they’re so isolated.
“When I was at Mt Barnett, I happened to hear they were struggling and I offered them assistance.”
Western Australia’s fire and emergency services department issued Mr Eggleston with a 24-hour casual firefighter registration.
His first priority was to set up a series of water pumps from the river to protect the Mt Barnett station. He later teamed up with a local Aboriginal worker to spot attack burning embers and help with backburning.
“The Kimberley fires don’t tend to crown like ours do, so there was just this really intense heat,” Mr Eggleston said.
“One of the local tourist helicopters was brought up to give us some aerial oversight. From up in the air, this was one of the most intense grass fires I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Weeks later, Mt Barnett station manager Richard Patterson contacted the Bacchus Marsh brigade on Facebook.
“Chris turned up just at the right time,” Mr Patterson said. “He was thrown straight into the action in the Police Valley, where the fire was pushing hard on the breaks … we’d like to pass on our deep appreciation for what he did for us.”
