FAR South Coast Rural Fire Service (RFS) team leader John Cullen says he is “extremely confident” the service would have enough firefighters to cope with a major bushfire emergency in the next fire season.
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Meteorologists have predicted a “mega El Nino” weather cycle, which is likely to cause drought conditions and higher temperatures in the coming bushfire season.
Mr Cullen said there were about 1000 volunteer firefighters in the Eurobodalla and Bega Valley Shires and, if this was not enough, more help could be brought in from elsewhere.
“In the event of a fire we can get extra resources from other districts, just as we took fire-fighting crews to other areas like Cooma, Nowra, the Blue Mountains, Delegate, Wagga and Victoria last fire season,” he said.
“We also have other agencies such as State Forests and National Parks to help as well.”
Mr Cullen said the Eurobodalla and Bega Valley RFS units were a united force to tackle bushfires in either area.
“We are a team; we work together,” he said.
He said that many volunteers had been recruited by RFS brigades since the last fire season and they were undergoing training courses to increase their fire-fighting ability.
He said that continual equipment upgrades have made the RFS more capable of meeting the bushfire threat.
“We are well prepared, well trained and well equipped,” he said.
