As a volunteer firefighter, I can be called away for short emergencies, or for five- to seven-day deployments. Suddenly, my wife – who works full-time – is left taking care of everyone for up to a week, and also dealing with the whole

My partner had been a police officer for several years when we met.

Having been through some traumatic experiences in my life, I loved that I could tell him about the things I’d been through. He dealt with that knowledge

I started volunteering with the RFS just before the fires hit last summer – talk about being thrown into the deep end! 

A friend who was already in the brigade suggested I start to volunteer, to give myself a break

It was when we returned home that the tears began. 

“You should have told me we were leaving because of a fire,” she said. “I didn’t get a chance to take my teddy bear, and I was worried about him.” 

With my partner being a volunteer firefighter, activating our household’s evacuation plan is up to me. On that day, I tried to make it easier by avoiding telling the kids why we were ‘going out’. But it didn’t quite work out that way.