A Collie Parks and Wildlife Service firefighter from the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions has departed and since arrived in America to help battle multiple large fires that have been burning across the North-West region.
Tim Hutton along with six other firefighters from Western Australia will be part of a 180-strong Australian and New Zealand contingent sent to assist with fire control.
The officers joined the Australian contingent in Sydney before departing to various locations in the USA for a period of up to six weeks.
All officers are highly skilled and experienced in a variety of incident management roles including planning, logistics and operations.
The deployment has been facilitated through an agreement between the US National Multi-Agency Coordination Group and the Australian National Interagency Fire Centre, with resources being managed via the National Resource Sharing Centre and Emergency Management Victoria.
Environment Minister Stephen Dawson said the department has contributed to seven contingents to the USA since 2000 and is proud to continue the tradition of providing international assistance in times of crisis.
“These firefighters bring with them a great deal of experience and will play a vital role in helping to relieve exhausted American crews who have been battling the fires for the past month,” he said.
“This will be an opportunity for our specialist Western Australian firefighters to share their extensive knowledge and draw on the expertise from international counterparts on bushfire management in a new environment.”
Mr Hutton’s wife Jenae said her and all the family were extremely proud of him for going.
“It was a bit of a shock when he called me to say he would be flying to the USA in two days time. It was very emotional for both of us. We have an 18 month old girl Violet and Tim can't bare to be away from her for longer than a day’s work,” she said.
“I and the rest of our family are incredibly proud of him going over to help, he is amazing at what he does and is such an asset to the USA during this natural disaster.”
