Northern Beaches Remote Area Unit

13/08/2025

Another member of ours has been sent to Canada to help our overseas colleagues battle their wildfires. This is the 4th deployment we have had members on this year, first two in Northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and now Manitoba. All the best to all heading overseas.

As heatwave conditions grip parts of Europe and fire activity intensifies across Northern America and Europe, a further 13 Australian personnel, including 9 from NSW, have this morning departed for Manitoba, Canada. All are serving in Incident Management Team roles.

This season, NSW has deployed a total of 149 personnel, made up of 89 NSW RFS, 47 NPWS and 13 FCNSW.

Thirty three personnel deployed last month will return home on Sunday and Monday.

BC Wildfire Service

31/07/2025

03/07/2025

Two of our members are currently in Alberta, Canada to help out with their fires.

03/02/2025

Our members out and about in Victoria

01/02/2025

Yesterday morning our unit deployed 2 x cat 9’s to Victoria to assist with the worsening fire conditions. They are currently based in Horsham expected to return to district Friday evening. Stay tuned for updates on their activities.

10/01/2025

Today the NB RAU found themselves at Colo Heights helping to confirm containment of the Buddha fire so it can be set to patrol. The terrain was fairly challenging especially after the rain.

Work involved walking the perimeter and dealing with hot spots identified using Forward Looking Infra Red (FLIR) camera mounted on a helicopter. Many smouldering logs were found near the unburnt edges even after the rains we've had showing the importance of these taskings.

At this stage the NB RAU will be heading back out on Sunday to assist further containment of the S44 fires in the Hawkesbury.

06/01/2025

Today Northern Beaches RAFT have supplied a crew to support fire operations around the Wyong area.

The team arrived this morning to receive a comprehensive briefing on the situation, weather and the likely tasking for the day. The purpose of the RART chopper is to standby to respond to any new starts within our designated area. Most of the time this is lightning strikes in remote areas. It’s similar to the concept of the NB Flyer.

The team will be activated in a similar fashion to what we would normally do on a truck. The chopper will fly to where the fire has been reported. We will then make several passes over the fire and make an assessment on what we see and come up with a plan of attack. The team will then land, hover exit or winch into the fire and commence fire suppression if possible.

The unique thing about RAFT is that each team member has equal input into fire operations and if the job is a GO or NO GO. As we operate in much smaller groups in remote locations it is important that everyone is comfortable with what is going on.

If the idea of this sort of work interests you then look out for the fitness tests that are in the district training calendar. This is the entry point into the RAU. (Remote Area Unit)

05/01/2025

04/01/2025

A Northern Beaches remote area firefighting team deployed to Tamworth on New Years Eve. Local crews had been managing multiple fires in the area ignited by lightning strikes. The team worked closely with helicopter crews and aerial camera operators over three days to contain both the Pudding and River Rd/ Bowling Alley fires.

One fire was burning in an area inaccessible by vehicles, so crews were flown in and out by helicopter. On the ground, they got to work with chainsaws, Pulaski tools and rakehoes to break open burning trees, logs and hot ground. Ground crews directed helicopters with water buckets onto specific targets to complete the mop up. The steep, rocky slopes were unforgiving and challenging to navigate across, but produced some incredible views.

At the conclusion of our deployment yesterday, the local district staff and volunteers expressed their gratitude for the hard work of our crews. As an example, on Pudding fire, if remote area crews had been unable to access the fire via aircraft, the expectation was that it would have to burn to the nearest roads before it could be contained, potentially consuming 11,000 hectares of bush and farmland over the course of a month, threatening the neighbouring national park. The work of the aircraft, air crew and remote area firefighters meant that Pudding Fire is currently holding steady at a size of only 31 hectares.

03/01/2025

We currently have two crews deployed, one to Tamworth and another to the Lower Hunter. The Lower Hunter crew have been working on the Giants Creek Fire started by a lightening strike a few days ago. The challenging terrain meant crews working from trucks are unable access the perimeter verifying the fire is within the containment area.

This crew has spent the past few days walking the edges and identifying anything burning or smoking that may pose an issue in the coming days when the weather gets hot and windy, potentially causing an ember to start a fire outside of containment. Through the use of dry firefighting and water bombing helicopters, this fire has now been downgraded to a patrol status. Members from this crew are from Davidson Rural Fire Brigade, Belrose Rural Fire Brigade and Northern Beaches Headquarters Rural Fire Brigade.

01/01/2025

In addition to our crews leaving yesterday, Belrose has deployed two members to the Tamworth area as part of the Northern Beaches Remote Area Unit.

The below photo shows DC Dave and his team that have just inserted via helicopter to the Pudding Fire.

31/12/2024

Alongside the strike we sent to Tamworth the Northern Beaches remote area unit made up of RAFT and Arduous members have been busy deploying crews around the state. Currently we have:

2 vehicles and crews working up at the Tamworth fire. These crews start work in the morning and will either be winching into a remote area not accessible by road or working a remote area only accessible by PC.

1 vehicle and crew heading out in the morning to the Hunter Valley. Unsure of the tasking at the moment.

This is a great turn out by the team and comes of the back of offering crews to the last two request to Victoria.

The team is made of members from brigades across the district. If working deep out in the bush , dry firefighting and rides in choppers are of interest to you then look out for the fitness test dates in the district calendar.