Money gave sold beanie.
I worked for US Forest Service in
Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit as a
forest fire engine captain and about
a month ago I was given the
opportunity to put my name down.
Come to Australia to fight
fire and things got worse.
I was lucky enough to be
one of the people chosen to
do that. We saw a really nice picture
of you holding. Was it a baby kangaroo?
Can you clue us in on how that picture
happened? That thing is so cute, yes.
So we were at. We worked our way into
one of those communities and found out
everybody was safe in all the structures
in that particular area and then saved and
one of the firefighters had found that
little Joey while wandering around in
the black and started following him.
So he scooped it up and he knew
a local law enforcement officer,
so he was holding onto it until
the officer could make it.
Apparently the officer has a paralyzed
kangaroo he rescued in a traffic accident.
That's going to be the little Joeys mom.
Oh OK, so did you.
I know it touched you right? Oh,
I think we're so cute. Yeah thanks.
'cause you know we we came in here
and that the scale of the devastation
that it affects you emotionally.
And it's it's kind of hard to see. So to be
able to make a little difference
like that was really nice.
So what is it like the video
that we're seeing here is?
It reminds me of the campfire.
It just looks like
something you can't imagine.
Can you put it into words for us?
How it is for you out there?
You know what we've seen is that
the campfire or the car fire and
reading is real similar to that, but
right now the real happy we came here
because everywhere we go we seem to
bring the rain with us. And so we
up in the fire behaviors been
dropping off, and a lot of what
we've been doing is going into
communities that were isolated by the fire
an opening Rd so we can get in and make
sure everybody safe.
OK, can you just get
us caught up to speed?
How large is it now?
How long has it been burning?
And any good changes coming
in any relief in the weather?
So my understanding is all
of this started about.
Six weeks ago here in Victoria,
and longer than that further North,
which is about two months ahead
of schedule for their normal fire
season and to be at this level
of devastation at this point,
really shocking and unprecedented,
and the scale of the fires is like nothing
I've ever seen in the United States.
So as far as the weather forecast goes,
they're hoping to get some monsoonal
moisture pushing down from the North,
and if they get that that be really good,
but it sounds like normally what
they can expect is that those
monsoonal moisture's will stop more
in Queensland and NSW North of us,
so they may or may not get down here.
And we're really not counting on.
OK, are there any similarities
with their weather?
An hour weather 'cause I know
they had a drought last year.
I know they got gusty winds.
They got an excessive heat wave sometimes
we have similar conditions here as well.
Are they similar weather patterns
as far as the fire behavior
they're having there and what
we have here in California?
Or is it extremely different?
It's very similar. They have a
lot of eucalyptus trees so the
biggest difference really has to do with
the fuels and the bark on the eucalyptus
tree creates headaches for them.
You don't have an teleport
as far as the weather goes.
You know when the wind blows,
fire goes and a big difference
is normally in California.
It's a Southwest wind were worried about,
and here it's at Northwestern Northeast Wind.
That's the change we're seeing.
Today is a frontal difference.
That's gonna create more North winds,
and that's what's been driving
to really dramatic fire behavior.
OK, so going forward,
a lot of people were talking
about climate change,
and that's why there are fires have
erupted the way that they have.
Do you even think it's possible
that we could have something?
As devastating that they're having in
Australia that we could possibly have,
the type of fires here
in California, I'm afraid
to say that my answer would be yes.
I could see us seeing a change
towards like what they're having here.
So Dave, why did you decide to go?
Because you going out there?
I mean, that's going to change your life.
I know why did you decide to
go out there and help out?
As federal wildland firefighters,
that's what we do.
You know there's something
bad is going on and there's
something in our nature that says,
hey, can I go help?
And so you put your
hand in the air and you
don't even think about, volunteer and
then you get to work OK? How much
longer are you going to be out there?
I got 19 more days left,
OK, anything you want to say to us or
our viewers about what you're seeing
out there and how you're dealing with
it? You know what I'd really like to
say is thanks to the people of Australia,
they've been incredible hosts
and it's really nice to be a
guest here and the outpouring of
support from them and from back home.
It's been really nice to do.
Thanks to everybody who's had kind words.