CFA Deputy Chief Officer Stephanie Rotarangi will be CFA’s highest-ranking female officer ever deployed internationally when she flies to Boise, Idaho, today for deployment as National Liaison Officer.
She will replace Chris Eagle, Acting Chief of DELWP Forest Fire Management, who has been deployed in the role for the past three weeks.
Deputy Chief Officer Rotarangi is a representative of the contingent of Australian and New Zealand firefighters deployed to fight fires across the US west coast.
In the US, there are more than 27,000 firefighters and support personnel working on 110 large fires that have burnt more than 750,000 hectares in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, California, Nevada, Utah, Alaska and Arizona.
“I am deeply saddened by the fire situation our American colleagues and communities are facing but I am naturally pleased to be able to go, get stuck in and provide a hand,” Deputy Chief Officer Rotarangi said.
“I’m also incredibly proud of our Australian/New Zealand deployment; their safety and wellbeing will be my priority as well as ensuring they have everything they need for their firefighting effort.”
The incident management roles that Australia and New Zealand are performing continue to be in great demand as large fires are continuing throughout the West, particularly in the Northwest.
Even though good progress has been made by on a number of fires, resourcing continues to be a challenge. As a result, it is expected that those fires that are unable to be resourced or are lightly resourced will grow and add to the overall fire load.
Victorian firefighters from Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), Parks Victoria, SES and MFB have been deployed across the west coast of US and Canada for the past couple of weeks, while another contingent returned from Greece last week.
CFA Chief Officer Steve Warrington said the deployments continued a proud and important CFA tradition.
“CFA crews have extensive experience with large wildfires, having handled fires on similar terrain across Australia. We also have a history of travelling to other countries to assist in the control and extinguishing of major bushfires,” said Mr Warrington.
“Australia has cross-border arrangements for sharing personnel, resources and aircraft and it is important that we continue to operate with no borders and support each other and our international colleagues where needed. We’re proud of our relationship with these countries, and I’m pleased we’re able to provide support.
“I acknowledge the work done at every level to coordinate this deployment. The skills of our CFA firefighters are internationally recognised and I know the firefighters and the communities they work with are extremely grateful for their support and camaraderie.
“I wish all Australian personnel a safe deployment. I have no doubt that they will represent Victoria and Australia proudly, and I commend their effort and attitude.”
“Working with the US crews is nearly seamless; our fire management is very similar, we are well received by the Incident Management Teams, the ground crews and the public. It makes the deployments very personally rewarding, and sometimes very humbling,” he said.
For more information contact CFA Media on: 1300 CFA MEDIA (24 hours) or cfamedia@cfa.vic.gov.au