The American firefighters are here and ready to help | jennynoise
As the first ever deployment of American firefighters made the descent into Sydney from the United States on Saturday morning, the bushfire smoke cloaking the city for the past week filled the aircraft cabin. For firefighting aviation specialist Michelle Moore, from Idaho, the smell wasn’t alarming.
Inside the briefing notes on Sunday was the important lesson of getting familiar with Australia’s spiders and snakes. Fire and Rescue NSW Commissioner Paul Baxter said the Australian accent will probably also take some getting used to. "We haven’t had the need because of our firefighting resources here in Australia and New Zealand," Commissioner Baxter said. But the call was made due to this year's "unprecedented" bushfire season that began in winter, and, by the first week of summer, had already wreaked havoc throughout the state.
Californian air tactical group supervisor Josh Mathieson said it would be his first Christmas on the road, as December is usually their time to take a break – or at least, it was.
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