Volunteer firefighter from Mt Barker reflects on deployment to assist in ongoing Canadian wildfires battle

Two Mt Barker firefighters have recently returned to the Great Southern after being deployed to Canada for more than a month to help local crews fight wildfires, along with crews from across Australia. Morgan Brown, who has been a volunteer firefighter in Mt Barker for almost seven years, was in Canada for six weeks, part of a crew of firefighters from across WA. Fellow Mt Barker volunteer Kathleen Western was also deployed, and headed to Alberta a week after Mr Brown arrived in the country. Mr Brown said his crew had members from Northcliffe, Manjimup, the Perth Hills and Bunbury, and they joined crews from Queensland and NSW who had also been deployed to assist local crews. He said landing in a foreign country and going to work with a completely new team was a challenge, but one that everyone welcomed. “When you’re at home with your normal crew, things flow really easily, you know what each other can do,” he said. “When you’re with a new team, you don’t quite know what to expect, but we gelled pretty quickly, because you’re all there for same reason and you all have the same mission in mind. “The crew I was with was absolutely great, and the experience wouldn’t have gone as smoothly without them, because you’re away from your families for a fair while, and it’s hard work and long days out there. “The camaraderie among the crew every day kept us all looking at the positives.” Mr Brown said working with international crews made the Australian fireys all too aware of the slang and terminology they used in their daily jobs at home that Canadian firefighters didn’t use at all, making work move slower to begin with. “Some of the guys were from Quebec and they only spoke French, so there was a bit of a language barrier to get past, and there were definitely big differences in terminology that you noticed pretty quickly,” he said. “I remember once I was in the middle of talking about something and one of the Canadian guys was just looking at me really weirdly, and it took me a while to realise that he didn’t know what I was talking about at all.” Crews were briefed every morning on their jobs and locations for the day, with teams flown to the fire line in helicopters to work on the ground. “We would work in teams of three with hand tools with ground equipment, and one of the highlights for me was being put in charge of running burn lines with a drip torch,” Mr Brown said. “It’s something we do at home all the time, but to be entrusted with that kind of job when you’re new to the area and you’re from another country is something you feel you can be proud of. “It was their second-worst fire season on record, so their resources were stretched pretty thin and they needed the extra help, and we were the first Australian fire crew to work in the area we were deployed to, which was a proud moment as well.” Mr Brown is also part of the Mt Barker State Emergency Services team as a volunteer, and said his ambition is to specialise in mountain rescues, and said being able to help his community in times of need kept him coming back to the work. “I like being able to give back to the community, and being able to fly overseas to help another country when they need it feels very honourable,” he said.