The South Durras RFS brigade officially welcomed its newest recruits after months of training when they could throughout the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
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Region South East area commander Chief Superintendent Goetz Graf congratulated the newly certified members, along with Captain Judee Bryant and the brigade on Monday night, December 14.
New recruit Etienne De Celis joined because he believes the more RFS members in a community, the less of a burden fires will be for members.
He wasn't part of the brigade before the fires hit, however he helped clear Durras properties where he could over the last bushfire season.
He is passionate about being better prepared for the next disaster and said there needed to be more maintenance or preventative methods to reduce the intensity of big fires: "It's going to be hotter and drier ... (and) longer droughts," Mr De Celis said. "I can't see another option."
He said a scientific approach - which assessed how different parts of the bush burned - was needed. Cultural burning could also help.
Geoff Perrem, a Batemans Bay High School teacher, said he now had the time to join RFS with his children becoming older and reducing his workload to part-time.
He had been involved in community organisations and extra-curricular activities through the school, and joined RFS with his daughter-in-law Georgia Sadler.
Mr Perrem said to others who may be considering becoming a firefighter that they could join the agency and get a feel for the experience before making a decision: "You need to join first then see if it suits you," he said.
Ms Sadler grew up in Ulladulla surrounded by a family of volunteers.
She organised meetings during last summer's fires "because we could see how stretched our local resources were".
She said fire would always be a risk to Durras - surrounded by Murramarang National Park - so the more firefighters available, the more everyone could help one another.
Ms Sadler, a Kindergarten teacher at Ulladulla Public School, drove down a few nights a week to train with her new crew, with training ramped up particularly in the second half of 2020: "It doesn't feel like a chore. It's really fun, hands-on, exciting, challenging. It's been more physically challenging than I anticipated - in a good way," Ms Sadler said.
She welcomed the experience and knowledge of the South Durras brigade: "You wish you could bottle it up and put it in a book". "The amount of knowledge and work that goes into getting your basic firefighting certificate is pretty incredible," she said.