Today, Friday, August 27, is Wear it Yellow Day, so consider wearing something yellow to honour the work of the volunteers in the NSW Rural Fires Service (RFS).

With the official start of the ‘fire’ season (September 1) only a couple of days away, it’s time to remember how important the work of the RFS and its volunteers is.

Goolmangar firefighter Robert Graham is a group officer in NSW RFS and he said protecting the community is what it’s all about.

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“In the local RFS region encompassing Lismore, Casino and Kyogle, there are 470 volunteer RFS members, plus 280 new additional firefighters trained to fight fires,” he said.

As the coordinator of 11 brigades, he remembers well the 2019 bushfires – and with fire season just about to start, he wants people to be extra careful and follow protocols if they need to light any fires.

“As of September 1, people can’t just light a fire,” he said. “People are required to have a permit. They also, by law, need to ring the fire line and let the fire control officer in Casino know.

“You also need to let your neighbours know - preferably 24 hours before.

“We are trying hard to educate the public as to the requirements – there have been a number of grass fires recently that we have been called out to.

“If people understand that any fire that is reported to 000 will set off the pager of an RFS volunteer– and we have an obligation to respond.

“A lot of fires in the past few weeks are false alarms and it’s a waste of time for an RFS member to leave their farm to attend the incident.”

Mr Graham said he expected the upcoming fire season won’t be an intense as the 2019-2020 fire season, because that was the result of a 20 year build up and a long dry period.

“But, we don’t know what’s going to happen this spring. If it’s drier that the predicted wetter than average season, it could be a problem.

Read more about Robert Graham: SUNDAY PROFILE: Goolmangar firefighter Robert Graham awarded Australia Day

How did Wear it Yellow Day start?

After the Black Summer Bushfires, a group of NSW residents wanted to do something special to thank the NSW Rural Fire Service and volunteers.

So, they engaged with locals schools to come up with ‘Wear It Yellow Day’ day for students and it’s become a state-wide initiative supported by the NSW RFS.

While planned events are unable to go ahead due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Wear It Yellow Day team are calling on people to celebrate the day by dressing in yellow and sharing a message of support with your local NSW RFS Brigade.