Fire hero Willoughby bus operator Jon Russell

State Transit’s selfless team of volunteers for the Rural Fire Service (RFS), the State Emergency Service (SES) and the Army Reserve have played a key role in helping fight the fires and in the recovery efforts during Australia’s biggest natural disaster.

Willoughby bus operator Jon Russell tells us of his experience on the front line of what he describes as “the worst fire season” he’s seen.

Captain of Cottage Point Fire Brigade for 18 years, Jon joined the RFS more than 40 years ago and describes this isolated community where he lives on a tributary of the Hawkesbury River as “God’s Country”. He and his crew of 10 other RFS volunteers protect the 52 homes in this hamlet surrounded by Ku-ring-gai National Park.

Jon returned to work at Willoughby Depot on January 20 after five weeks fighting the blazes that raged across NSW. A veteran of three stints as a bus operator at State Transit starting in 1987, Jon said his team were first called out in early December to protect homes in St Albans at Wiseman’s Ferry. It was not just the fires that posed a threat to RFS crews at this small but historic village. Venomous Eastern brown snakes and death adders stirred up by the fires created further challenges for firefighters.

Just two days later Jon’s team were headed, sirens blazing, up the M1 to the Central Coast to protect properties from the fire front at Mangrove Mountain. With most residents evacuated, a number of RFS crews carried out back burning and with help from the sky from a 737 Large Air Tanker managed to save homes. After a 7am start the weary crew returned back to their Cottage Point fire station at 3.15am.

The next day the crew were called back up the M1 to back burn to protect homes in the tiny village of Spencer upstream from Brooklyn. Meeting up with other Sydney RFS brigades and good mate and Willoughby PM bus operator Gunther Amann, Jon’s team helped save all properties from the fires despite also having pump salt water from the river and deal with pesky Funnel-web spiders.

The courageous crew were back on the job before Christmas when fire threatened the popular tourist spot of Bilpin on the Bells Line of Road in the Blue Mountains. Jon described the two days battling the raging fire as “about as bad as you can get with the wind as our worse enemy”. Many homes and fruit orchards in the town known as the “Land of the Mountain Apple” were destroyed in the blaze.

But it was responding to the fire at Buxton on December 19 in south west Sydney fanned by hot temperatures and winds that Jon and his crew faced the gravest danger. He and his team narrowly escaped death when fire engulfed them.

“As I got out of the driver’s seat the crew came back screaming ‘get back in the truck’. It was just unbelievable the speed the fire moved. We had flames licking at the truck,” Jon said.

“I really thought that would be my last day. We were overwhelmed by the massive fire front that surrounded us and we all had to dive into the fire truck. I just put on the water spray bars that pour water over the truck. The fire licked at the sides of the truck and we tried to get out of the area but I couldn’t see for all the smoke. We were helped out by other brigades.

“In all the days I’ve been a firefighter that is the only day I thought would be my last. We really didn’t think we were coming out. I’m still upset by it but I’ve given my life to the RFS and have never had anyone in my team hurt. I just love what I do.”

That day Brave volunteer firefighters from Horsley Park Rural Fire Brigade Geoffrey Keaton, 32, and Andrew O’Dwyer, 36, died when their firetruck overturned in the battle to contain blazes in south-west of Sydney. Three firefighters were also seriously injured when they were overrun by fire near Bargo.

Despite the life and death experience in Buxton Jon’s dedicated team continued to battle blazes and back burn to protect communities in the Blue Mountains throughout January until he returned to work.

Watch a video one of Jon’s crew took at Buxton as fire raged all around them.

Other brave volunteers from State Transit include:

Willoughby Depot:

Bus operators Gunther Amann and Jason Smith

Brookvale Depot:

Bus operator Derek Woodstone

ERA Xavier Macken Brookvale

Safety Professional Shane Jones

Mona Vale Depot:

Bus Operators Andrew Mille and David Hall

Duty Officer Gavin Bale

Apprentice mechanic Brady Baker

ERT Mechanic Mick Amarasinghe

Ryde Depot

Bus operators Gordon Pusey, Eric Carl Borchers and Martin lloyed

Waverley

Bus operator Edward Sarkis, Bus operator Christopher Oakes