Tony Abbott has opened up about his 19-year career as a volunteer firefighter as he battles deadly blazes that have blanketed his home city with smoke.
The former prime minister told Daily Mail Australia of going up against 20m walls of flame, leading crews into the inferno, and what inspired him to join.
Mr Abbott, 62, also spoke with admiration of the battlers from his Davidson brigade, on Sydney’s northern beaches, and the 50,000 other NSW Rural Fire Service heroes he is proud to serve with.
Three other RFS members, including former fire chief Greg Mullins, injured volunteer Yoel Hyman, and Mr Abbott’s captain Trent Dowling, also shared their stories.
Between them they have faced hundreds of fires and explained their passion for trying to keep Australians safe without being paid a cent.
Tony Abbott
Mr Abbott’s desire to join the RFS started with the devastating 1994 fires that killed four people across the NSW coast.
He was driving home through Sydney’s northern suburbs and his usual route was blocked by a wall of flames.
However, a month later he won preselection to the Sydney seat of Warringah and was busy campaigning for the by-election that started his political career.
Tony Abbott has opened up about his 19-year career as a volunteer firefighter as he battles deadly blazes that have blanketed his home city with smoke
Six years later there was a bad fire near Bantry Bay, near Manly, in his electorate and he ‘saw fireballs rolling up the hill’ while visiting voters.
His old friend Ray, who lived in the same suburb, was drinking beer on his verandah and watching the RFS put it out.
‘He said “I felt so guilty, I’m going to join them”, so I replied, “why don’t I come with you?”‘ Mr Abbott recalled. They signed up that day, October 3, 2000.
‘At first the brigade was nervous I was just padding my resume, but I loved it from the moment I started,’ he said.
He threw himself into mastering as many specialities as possible and gained qualifications in response driving, chainsaw, remote area firefighting, roof work, and using a breathing apparatus.
The RFS was so democratic that when he first ran for deputy captain he was beaten – despite being leader of the Howard Government in the House of Representatives – by a mechanic who was a better firefighter.
Mr Abbott cooks sausages on Monday night at Davidson brigade’s annual fundraiser, after returning from the fire front the day before
Mr Abbott was battling the fires near Balmoral on Thursday to Saturday and posed with a Highway Patrol officer
He got in the next year after the government was voted out, but had to step down when he became opposition leader in 2009, only taking the position back after losing his seat at the 2019 election.
‘There are moments of danger but the comradeship is intense, there are very strong bonds of solidarity among the brigade,’ Mr Abbott said.
‘It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done and I’d thoroughly recommend it to anyone who’s reasonably active and wants to serve the community.
‘You’re not always confronting massive flames but every job is useful and important.’
Mr Abbott said his scariest day on the front line was on Boxing Day 2001, the first serious fire he ever faced after joining up a year earlier.
‘I was up in the Blue Mountains and lucky enough to be with David Stephenson who is an exceptional fireman, and because of his excellent leadership you never felt the situation was above your ability to handle,’ he recalled.
‘That was a day of 50ft walls of flame and houses going down, but no structure that we were defending was lost.’
Mr Abbott threw himself into mastering as many specialties as possible and gained qualifications in response driving, chainsaw, remote area firefighting, roof work (pictured), and using a breathing apparatus
Mr Abbott with a colleague at a hazard reduction burn earlier this year before the crisis began
There were also fierce days this summer during the fires that ripped through northern NSW in September, when Davidson crews were trying to stop a fire crossing the Bruxner Highway.
‘That was pretty intense because even though it was early September, it was one very powerful fire,’ he said.
Mr Abbott completed three five-day deployments in northern NSW between September and November, along with others all the state.
As other blazes flared up around Sydney this month, Mr Abbott has spent up to 10 days on the front line, including at Balmoral which was devastated last week.
His most recent action began when his crew arrived in nearby Bargo about 6pm on Thursday and mopped up after the worst of he fire had gone through.
The next day they was put out a spot fire and on Saturday night volunteered for a last-minute emergency relief crew.
‘The guys we took over from were shattered because they had faced the worst of it. Balmoral had been incredibly hard hit, it was as bad as anything you’d ever seen on a fireground,’ he said.
Mr Abbott completed three five-day deployments in northern NSW between September and November, along with others all the state (he is pictured mopping up a fire zone in a recent photo)
Mr Abbott arrives at Davidson station in November 2016, having increased his activity after being ousted from being prime minister
Mr Abbott at a fire near houses along Lemon Tree Passage Road, in Salt Ash, NSW, in November last year
Mr Abbott was so committed to the RFS cause that he fought two fires in October 2013 at Wilton and Putty Road.
He said insisting on going out with his Davidson comrades got him out of the Canberra bubble and helped him keep his perspective.
‘In all my years in politics, the RFS has helped to keep me grounded,’ he said.
As one of 12 officers in the 90-strong Davidson brigade, he leads a six-person crew and helps show new recruits the ropes.
‘The first thing to do is to instil in them the confidence that they can do the job and rely on their colleagues and then that they get the basics right. Once that’s happened they can usually take it from there themselves,’ he said.
Davidson brigade captain Trent Dowling said Mr Abbott was a model officer who inspired other members to follow him into battle with raging bushfires.
‘He comes out the dirtiest of his crew, he’s a very hands on man, he wants to get in a be in the thick of it,’ he said.
Mr Abbott said insisting on going out with his Davidson comrades got him out of the Canberra bubble and helped him keep his perspective
Mr Abbott poses with members of another fire brigade. He insists no one should think he’s any different to the other 50,000 RFS members
‘He leads from the front, gets in and does all the nastiest, dirtiest stuff – he’s either in front or right beside them.’
But Mr Abbott insists no one should think he’s any different to the other 50,000 RFS members and has a new policy of insisting there always be at least one other person in uniform in any selfie he poses for.
‘The Davidson brigade and other brigades I’ve served alongside are all very efficient and it’s always an honour and a privilege to serve with them,’ he said.
‘They come from all walks of life with different views on things but all with an admirable commitment to duty and service.’
Trent Dowling
Mr Abbott’s captain has spent all his life in the suburb of Davidson and has been running the brigade since 2011.
Mr Dowling, 42, joined after the 1994 fires, aged 16, along with his best mate Paul Honour and has since battled every major blaze in NSW, and drove out to Victoria during Black Saturday.
‘I fell in love with what we do. I spent my school holidays fighting bushfires instead of going on family trips overseas,’ he said.
Mr Abbott’s captain Trent Dowling (pictured together last year) has spent all his life in the suburb of Davidson and has been running the brigade since 2011
By day, Mr Dowling is a senior executive at commercial real estate firm GPT and like many RFS volunteers finds firefighting to be a hands-on escape.
‘The RFS gets me out from behind a desk, it’s something different, and we’re out there for a common cause,’ he said.
‘We’re helping people, helping our community, being part of a team, and doing something that’s hard and physically demanding.’
As Mr Dowling’s crews work rolling shifts as long as 20 hours, flames aren’t the only dangers they face – made heartbreakingly clear last week when two volunteers died in a truck crash in northern NSW.
‘I was working in Currajong Heights on Sunday afternoon and we were dodging funnelwebs, brown snakes, death adders,’ he said.
‘Fires are the easier stuff by comparison, we understand that and it is more predictable.’
The Davidson brigade has people from all walks of life including a PWC partner, the head of global banking at Westpac, and kids coming out of school.
‘We’ve got tradies to white collar workers, or even unemployed. As long as they are willing to be part of what we stand for,’ he said.
‘No one cares what you do outside – when you pull the yellow uniform that’s how you’re judged.’
The 90-strong Davidson brigade has people from all walks of life including a PWC partner, the head of global banking at Westpac, and kids coming out of school
By day, Mr Dowling is a senior executive at commercial real estate firm GPT and like many RFS volunteers finds firefighting to be a hands-on escape
Mr Dowling also paid tribute to the unsung heroes who didn’t serve on the front lines including personnel officer Fiona Johnstone who has worked 60 to 80-hour weeks getting crews organised.
‘Also all the families and partners, I have two young kids and without the help and understanding that my wife provides I wouldn’t be able to do this,’ he said.
Davidson station sets up a Christmas lights display on its street for the annual fundraiser with thousands of locals attending.
The effort also raises money, along with residents on the rest of the street, for Bear Cottage children’s hospice in Manly.
‘It’s been hard this year, borrowing trucks to have one there, but the community response to the RFS right now is outstanding,’ Mr Dowling said.
Greg Mullins
The former NSW Fire and Rescue commissioner grew up in Terry Hills on Sydney’s northern beaches where his father Barry was in the RFS for 63 years.
‘I grew up in the 1960s watching orange glows over the national park and wondering where my dad was,’ he recalled.
He fought a big fire with his dad in October 1971, aged 12. ‘I was hooked, I decided then and there I wanted to be a firefighter,’ he said.
‘Dad wouldn’t let me join because I was too young, you had to be 16, but down the road at Duffys Forest they’d take anyone who could carry the gear.’
Greg Mullins is a former NSW Fire and Rescue commissioner who has returned to Terry Hills brigade on Sydney’s northern beaches, where his father Barry served for 63 years
Mr Mullins, 60, was holding a hose to flames soon after, and faced his first big test on Christmas Eve 1972.
‘I saw the smoke and flames over the national park so mum drove me down and I jumped on a truck and off I went,’ he said.
‘The training is lightyears better than what it was back then. I learned on the job and read everything I could.’
Joined Terry Hills with his dad when he turned 16 and became a full-time firefighter with NSW Fire and Rescue in 1978, serving as commissioner in 2003-17.
After that he returned to the RFS in Terry Hills where it all began and on Saturday was battling 30m flames near Blackheath in the Blue Mountains.
‘We didn’t lose any houses, I thought “how are we going to save this?” but everyone worked together and it was very rewarding,’ he said.
‘People I fought fires with then are still members today and we’re back together again. Every time I walk up the stairs there’s a picture of my mum and dad smiling down at me.’
Mr Mullins on Saturday was battling 30m flames near Blackheath in the Blue Mountains (pictured)
Despite being on opposite sides of the climate change debate, Mr Mullins said he and Mr Abbott were friends. They even chatted over breakfast in the field last week.
‘We’ve worked together a lot and I have great admiration for him. There’s nothing not to like about him, he’s a hard worker and a lovely man. We don’t talk about climate change,’ he said.
‘When the chips are down, nothing matters, everyone has each other’s backs. It’s a very Australian thing.’
Yoel Hyman
A fellow Terry Hills firefighter, Mr Hyman was badly injured as he tried to put out burning backyards when fire came to the Sydney suburb of South Turramurra last month.
The 30-year-old fell off a fence and badly broke his dominant left arm and elbow and is frustrated to be unable to help with the worsening crisis.
He recalls feeling this way right before he joined the RFS after the 2013 Blue Mountains fires.
Yoel Hyman (third from left with RFS colleagues) joined up after seeing the devastation brought by the 2013 Blue Mountains bushfires
Mr Hyman was badly injured as he tried to put out burning backyards when fire came to the Sydney suburb of South Turramurra last month
The 30-year-old fell off a fence and badly broke his dominant left arm and elbow and is frustrated to be unable to help with the worsening crisis
‘I felt pretty useless watching from the sidelines and decided I needed to do my bit and help those in their darkest hours,’ he said.
‘They’re my second family now, I’ve made lifelong friends.’
Mr Hyman said the worst fire he has fought was at Rainbow Flat near Taree – a blaze that killed three people and razed dozens of homes.
‘It was an incredibly intense and confronting fire and it was brutal having to decide which homes to defend,’ he said.
‘Even when conditions seem calm it’s so dry that a fire can become dangerous very quickly.’
‘Embarrassed and frustrated’ to be nursing his injury and unable to help, he said last week’s deaths of two RFS volunteers in a truck crash put things into perspective.
Smoke blocked out the sun and ash and fiery embers rained down on South Turramurra, soon followed by fire retardant dropped from an RFS plane that turned roofs, cars, pets, and residents pink
‘I don’t hold a hose, mate’: Scott Morrison’s stunning response to critics after swanning off to Hawaii while Australia burns
Scott Morrison defended jetting off to Hawaii for a family holiday at the height of the bushfire crisis, pointing out he doesn’t ‘hold a hose’ like firefighters.
The Australian Prime Minister further angered voters in a radio interview as he apologised for ‘any offence caused’ by his decision to go on holiday to the idyllic American island with his wife and two daughters.
‘It’s not easy to get back, but I will as soon as I can,’ Mr Morrison told 2GB radio.
‘I know Australians will understand this, and they’ll be pleased I’m coming back… but they know that, you know, I don’t hold a hose mate.’
His controversial remarks come after an online petition calling on the Governor General to remove him as Prime Minister gathered more than 120,000 signatures.
A photo of a group of Australian tourists who claimed to be with Scott Morrison (second from right) emerged on social media as speculation surrounding the prime minister’s whereabouts intensified
The Change.org petition claims that recent bushfires across NSW, Queensland and Victoria could have been prevented with better governance.
‘The recent fires in NSW are just the beginning as things will undoubtedly get worse,’ it reads.
‘There have also been many vulnerable Australian deaths as a result of the policies and indifference of this Government.
‘They have lost the right to govern us and have forgotten that they have been elected as representatives.’
Mr Morrison later said he ‘deeply regrets’ any offence taken after going on vacation during the bushfire crisis.
‘I deeply regret any offence caused to any of the many Australians affected by the terrible bushfires by my taking leave with family at this time,’ he said.
‘I have been receiving regular updates on the bushfires disaster as well as the status of the search for and treatment of the victims of the White Island tragedy.’