NSW National Parks joins international deployment to US wildfire emergency

Media release: 25 August 2015

A contingent of Australian and New Zealand emergency services and land management personnel, including five NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) fire experts departed for the United States on Sunday 23 August.

The 56-strong Australian contingent left Sydney, first travelling to Boise Idaho, from where they will mobilise across the northwestern states to assist their US colleagues dealing with more than 100 large fires currently burning.

NPWS Deputy Chief Executive, Michael Wright, said that Australia has a long relationship with the United States for providing assistance to each other during emergencies such as this.

“Australian (and NZ) fire fighters are widely regarded and the NPWS team members will act in specialist field-based and leadership roles including as Aircraft Officer/Helicopter Coordinator, Task Force Leader/Divisional Commander and Divisional Commander,” Mr Wright said.

“The current wildfire emergency gripping the northwest of the nation, where residents in many states have been evacuated from their homes and towns as hot, dry, and windy conditions have caused large fires, is one that our firefighters are familiar with.

“The control efforts will benefit greatly from the skills and experience of the Australian fire fighters, and I’m sure that our fighters will do themselves and Australia proud. I wish them a successful deployment and look forward to their safe return”, Michael said.

The five NPWS fire experts included in the deployment were Jason Abel (Divisional Commander); Brett Atkinson (Task Force Leader/Divisional Commander); Phil Bryant (Divisional Commander); Angela Lonergan (Aircraft Officer/Helicopter Coordinator), Martin Smith (Task Force Leader/Divisional Commander).

The Australians will be deployed in eastern Washington (state). The deployment includes personnel from Victoria (20), New South Wales (18), ACT (4), Queensland (2), Western Australia (9) South Australia (3) and New Zealand (15). A liaison officer and a support officer from Australia have already been deployed.

Australia has an established relationship with the United States that allows for the exchange of personnel, knowledge, skills, equipment, technology and mutual support in the event of an emergency.

The National Preparedness Level is currently at its highest rating of 5, with ten states reporting significant large fires - California, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, North Carolina, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Washington.

More than 25,000 personnel are supporting the wildfires emergency across, including 41 Incident Management Teams and two Area Command Teams.

Contact: Danielle Schwerin