Heartwarming moment a firefighter pulls two stricken koalas from a raging bushfire before they’re given a drink of water
- Firefighter Lester Miles was on his way to a blaze when he spotted the two koalas
- The animals were surrounded by fire and would have been burnt if not rescued
- He and a colleague put the koalas in blankets and gave them some water
Heartwarming footage has emerged of firefighters giving a drink of water to two koalas they rescued from catastrophic bushfires.
Lester Miles was on his way to relieve day shift crews fighting a blaze burning for more than a week at Spicers Gap in Maryvale, Queensland, on Sunday night when he saw the koalas surrounded by flames.
The Brisbane-born firefighter said the koalas would have been burnt alive if they hadn’t been spotted and saved.
Firefighters feeding water to a koala after rescuing it from a bushfire
‘They had nowhere to go, there was fire all around them,’ he told The Courier Mail.’
‘Coming up through there we pretty much had to go through the fire itself, there were a lot of trees falling over.’
Mr Miles said one koala was easy to get to because it was sitting by the side of the road.
The firefighters put the koalas in blankets after thy were rescued
He and a colleague put the scared animal in a blanket and gave it some water.
‘The second one put up a bit of a fight getting out of the tree, but once he was out he was fine as well,’ said Mr Miles.
The men took the native animals to a retreat where they were given some water.
The koalas were then dropped off at Maryvale Fire Station where they were collected by wildlife rescue.
Both animals are recovering from minor injuries with a registered carer in Towoomba.
One firefighter said the koalas would have been burnt if they weren’t rescued