CORNER BROOK, N.L. — It’s 7 a.m. on Jan. 2 and people in Corner Brook are just starting to wake up to face the day.
On the other side of the world, it’s 9:30 p.m. in Australia and Joe Russell’s day is coming to an end.
It’s been another busy one as the Corner Brook man assists in the management of the bush fires currently burning all over the country.
It’s a job the fire training specialist with the Department of Fisheries and Land Resources has trained extensively for and volunteered to do.
He’s been with the department for over 33 years with almost 11 of them with the fire management program.
Canada has a mutual aid agreement with Australia through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre and Russell is one of about 65 Canadians currently assisting with fighting the fires.
It’s his 10th deployment. His first was to Georgia, he’s had a couple within his home province, four in British Columbia and two in Ontario.
He’s not on the frontlines fighting the fires, but has seen the destruction they have caused.
He’s working logistics — arranging meals and accommodations, providing facilities, services and materials for firefighters — as part of a 30-member incident management team at a fire management centre in Lithgow. The New South Wales city is about 140 kilometres from Sydney.
His first shift was Dec. 23. Since then, he’s worked rotations of five days on, one day off and five days on, two days off with mandatory rest periods of 10 hours. He’s scheduled to be there for 38 days.
Not knowing the area could make his job a challenge, but Russell is doing something he’s learnt from his other deployments: relying on the knowledge of locals.
In Lithgow, the fire has increased in size and, at the time he spoke with The Western Star, was covering more than 500,000 hectares and had a total fire perimeter of 1,500 kilometres.
Some of the worst conditions occurred the day before he arrived, with the fire brigade saving a lot of properties.
Crews are continuing to back burn the area by putting up a machine guard of tractors and other heavy equipment around the area and burning any unburned fuels.
“It’s being managed," he said of the situation.
Crews are overwhelmed and tired, but continue to work on and get support from locals in terms of donations and help with preparing meals.
To the south, he said the situation has been “pretty crazy” over the last few days.
“It’s not out yet, by no means,” said Russell.
The forecast for the next few days calls for temperatures in the high 30s and winds that could send embers from current fires ahead of their path and start new fires. There’s no rain forecasted for the country right up to February.
With the way things are going, Russell said it’s possible he could be reassigned.
“The whole east coast is threatened with fire here now.
“It’s very unnerving for folks.”
Despite that, it’s where he wants to be. He even gave up spending Christmas with his family to do it.
He’d worked with Australians and New Zealanders in British Columbia in 2017 and 2018 and knew all about the drought conditions there.
“I just see it as an opportunity to go and help their country,” he said.
It was also an opportunity for him to see a new part of the world and how fires are managed there.
It’s a great accomplishment, career-wise, in terms of the hard work he’s put into training for such deployments.
“To be able to come down and help is rewarding.”
Russell said his wife, JoAnn, and daughters, Ashley, 27 and Aimee, 23, who is home from Sweden for Christmas, have been supportive of his decision to go.
He starts and ends every day by Facetiming with his wife and said they’ll celebrate Christmas when he gets home.