Volunteer firemen collapsed to the ground after a long night of battling fire in Australia.
Many of them took the chance to close their eyes and rest after hours of fighting blazes that claimed at least 20 homes and two of their brothers.
Volunteer firefighters had traveled hours to the Southern Highlands south of Sydney to help fight the fire. Many had already spent weeks fighting the inferno during extreme heat and strong winds.
While they were heartbroken to have lost two of their own and were completely drained, they said to Daily Mail Australia they were overwhelmed by the kindness of the residents.
Locals from the town of Tahmoor arrived in the morning to give supplies to the station. Some dropped off water while others gave packed snacks like biscuits and chips.
One resident said to Daily Mail Australia they had been doing the rounds to fire stations. “We took some into Picton as well. These people just did such a great job last night, as they always do,” she said.
“We’re just so sorry about what happened last night. They’re working so hard and it was a tragedy.”
After a few minutes, a young couple and their pet delivered supplies. “We’re not the ones anybody should be looking at. They’re the heroes. We’re just doing what we can to help them,” the man expressed.
One of the exhausted firefighters said he was ‘overwhelmed by the support’ from the locals.
“It’s been all morning, it’s just been unbelievable. They’re all just doing what they can. Go have a look in the shed, all of that is from this morning. Just people dropping things off. There was no call out, these are just the locals coming in to help out.”
Volunteer firefighters, 32-year-old Geoffrey Keaton and 36-year-old Andrew O’Dwyer, died when their truck rolled off the road. They have been remembered as heroes by Scott Morrison and their colleagues.
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Replaced!