NSW Rural Fire Service and NSW Farmers Association to rebuild relationship with new operational guide

An allegiance between the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) and NSW Farmers Association has been set in stone with a new set of guidelines to rebuild the relationship between farmers and firies.

The 'Farm Fire Unit Operational Guide' has been developed with farmers across the state to detail how landholders can work with the fire service before, during and after a blaze.

NSW RFS deputy commissioner field operations Peter McKechnie said the better the service could work with farmers, the better the result would be for the community.

"Farmers are ultimately where the Rural Fire Service started all those years ago and we need to have a strong relationship," he said.

READ ALSO:

"The guidelines detail how best they can communicate and what sort of equipment they may look to have on their vehicle to ensure they are safe, should they be caught by a fire."

The development of the guidelines was sparked by the devastating impacts of the Sir Ivan fires in 2017.

NSW Farmers Association president Xavier Martin welcomed the partnership and said the guidelines signified a "common sense" approach.

"The reality is, quite a few of our members are volunteer members of the RFS but there are quite a few we are not," he said.

"But we all know the reality with fire is the nearest water is the best water to get the fire out.

"So we've been looking for solutions to make things work more seamlessly."

With RFS state-of-the-art specialty trucks often located more than 20 kilometres from fires when they break out, Mr Martin said the operational guide would see private farm vehicles fitted out to communicate with fire fighters and haul water.

"We've seen time and time again where farmers, to go about their business as good stewards of the landscape, have trailers and have trucks that are often only hundreds of metres from the fire."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: