Northland firefighters awarded medal for efforts during Australian bushfires

Wildfire specialist Rory Renwick (left) is one of the group of Kiwi firefighters who have been acknowledged for their help with the Australian wildfires. Photo / NZME

Nine Northlanders are among the first-ever Kiwi firefighters to receive the Australia National Emergency Medal.

The award is in recognition of their "extraordinary service" during the devastating Australian bushfires in the summer of 2019/20.

33 people died as hundreds of fires tore through 14 million hectares across every state in Australia, fuelled by record-breaking temperatures and months of severe drought.

Scientists dubbed the bushfires as one of the worst wildlife disasters in modern history, due to the blazes killing or displacing nearly three billion animals.

The Kiwi contingent of 208 firefighters sent to help included personnel from Fire and Emergency New Zealand, the Department of Conservation, forestry company partners, and the New Zealand Defence Force, the majority of whom last week received their Australia National Emergency Medal with a Bushfires 19/20 clasp at one of four official ceremonies nationwide hosted by the Australian High Commissioner, HE Harinder Sidhu.

Among them was Northlander and wildfire specialist Rory Renwick, who spent 14 days battling blazes in remote and dense Australian bush.

He said the gratitude expressed "from the top" via the medal made the task "very rewarding".

But the medal was just the "icing on the cake", as Australian communities had offered small gestures of gratitude along the way.

"People stopped you on the street to shake your hand and say thank you. It's humbling and pretty amazing," Renwick said.

Smoke from Australian bushfires turned the sky an eerie yellow over Maitai Bay on the Karikari Peninsula. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Long days which often stretched to the 16-hour mark were spent on the frontline - starting with an hour's drive at 7am to reach an edge of the fire.

12 hours later, firefighters would put their tools down before heading back and repeating the same motions the next day.

Renwick said the New Zealand crews often ended up in remote parts, where they worked on large fires burning in mature, tall eucalyptus trees.

"We were trying to put out the edge of the fire to stop it spreading," he said.

"We did anything from patrolling edges [and] dealing with small hotspots to working with aircraft and heavy machinery to slow the fire down and stop it."

A stand-out moment for Renwick was one hot and windy day when the weather was favouring the fire and not the firefighters.

They arrived to a new location after having spent time protecting surrounding properties at the fire's edge.

"There was a local person in control of several crews [who was] feeling overwhelmed by that incident, as there had been many incidents for months," Renwick said.

Renwick was able to ease the strain on the local by taking charge; but the stand-out was the teamwork.

"We worked really well together using his local knowledge and my skills. We got on top of that one fairly well," he said.

In the face of the destruction unfolding, Renwick remained focused on his efforts and the contribution he could make.

Helping him were his experiences at the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria in 2009 and during British Columbia's worst bushfire season.

"We do get the hero label, but I feel uncomfortable with it," Renwick said.

FENZ national commander Russell Wood said the medal, for which service must be considered extraordinary, had never been awarded to FENZ members before.

"This is a very rare and special honour that the Australian government has extended to us."

FENZ was unable to give a full list of medal recipients for privacy reasons.