The video below is of New South Wales Rural Firefighters (NSW RFS) somehow surviving this fire.

…and none of them is getting paid for this.

Volunteer firefighters are carrying the burden of the bushfires sweeping Australia. They’ve been doing so for not just days and weeks, but months. They do it because, in the tradition of Australia and Australians, we Volunteer because we can.

Of course, it’s close to home. I’ve been an active volunteer my adult life and listening to stories from others, good friends, who have tackled this day after day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the nightmare of New Year’s Eve is gut-wrenching.

Families are losing homes, farmers losing whole herds of cattle, mobs of sheep, complete loss of livestock. Country towns have vanished, consumed by fire. Ecology of wildlife exterminated, vanished.

Nothing left but ash up to your ankle. A friend, I admire a great deal, lost her home.

Now is not the time for political point-scoring. We’re simply in the middle of a national emergency that needs all our, including you, support.

Compassion, a bed, a meal, a shower. Money in the wallet and a shoulder to lean on. Now is not the time to cower in comfort. Now is the time to be there.

Do just one thing - it will make a difference.