In a life threatening emergency dial Triple Zero (000)
Storm and Flood Assistance
Over the 2024-2025 Christmas and New Year period many of our volunteers gave up time with loved ones to help others in need.
We would like to take this time to share what some of our people across the ACT Emergency Services Agency (ESA) have been up to during this time.
Victoria bushfires deployment
24 volunteers from the ACT Rural Fire Service (ACTRFS) and ACT State Emergency Service (ACTSES) assisted with bushfires burning in the Grampians National Park, Bullengarook and the Gurdies in Victoria.
Our crews were deployed alongside personnel from ACT Parks & Conservation Service as well as other emergency service personnel from NSW, WA, Queensland and Tasmania.
10 ACTRFS firefighters left on Boxing Day and returned on New Years Day. 10 more left on New Years Eve and returned to the ACT 6 January.
Four members from the ACTSES returned from Victoria on 3 January. Whilst in the state they assisted with packing up a fire crew base camp in Ballarat and running logistics at a fire base camp in Horsham.
NSW bushfire deployments
ACTRFS volunteers assisted firefighters from the NSW Rural Fire Service fighting the Wee Jasper fire, west of the ACT.
Volunteers from our Mapping and Planning Support (MAPS) group were also deployed to Yass to assist with the Wee Jasper fire. ACT MAPS volunteers contributed crucial GIS and spatial data to the fire response, providing timely mapping intelligence products through information captured from field crews and the ACTRFS Specialist Intelligence Gather (SIG) helicopter, FB100.
ACTRFS aviation crews and assets also assisted NSW with fires burning in Kosciusko National Park.
Mt Kosciuszko search
Volunteer remote area search specialists from the ACTSES were deployed to assist with an ongoing search in Kosciuszko National Park for a missing bushwalker, led by NSW Police Force.
ACT activities
Our volunteers have also been quite busy here in the ACT over the last few weeks!
ACTSES volunteers assisted with maintaining public safety during NYE fireworks celebrations. This included the use of an ACTSES boat, which patrolled on Lake Burley Griffin during the public celebrations and assisting ACT Ambulance Service as required.
ACTRFS members were also busy assisting with two grass fires in the ACT. One in Moncrieff 250 x 50m in size and another in Bonner 500 x 500m in size that required the assistance of one of our firefighting helicopters.
They were also on standby at Summernats for any fires that occurred.
On behalf of the ESA we would like to thank all of our volunteers, and the families that support them, for their assistance over this busy time of year, we could not do what we do without their ongoing service and support.
