The drought Australia has experienced over the last few years has resulted in one of the worst fire seasons on record.
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An estimated 10 million hectares has been burnt, spanning across the New South Wales South Coast, Southern Highlands, Blue Mountains and Central Tablelands, along with Victoria's East Gippsland, Alpine Region and South Australia's Kangaroo Island.
It will take many years to have hard evidence on the full impact bushfire smoke has on our firefighters.
But one small incident sparked an idea to help the brave volunteers that protect and serve us in terrifying conditions.
The story begins in September of 2019 when the Green Wattle Creek fire in the Wollondilly region first began.
No-one could have imagined the sheer size, ferocity and fear that this fire would bring to the communities surrounding the Nattai National Park.
Over the Christmas period, Rare Cancers Australia's Kate Vines became aware of several volunteer firefighters from a Southern Highlands RFS crew who had received serious burns to the face.
At the time the Green Wattle Creek fire had taken numerous homes and now burnt over 227,000 hectares.
After learning that such an event had occurred questions needed to be asked: "How can we help keep these volunteers safe whilst away from their families?" In the days following the incident a number of volunteers who were on the ground holding the hose, were asked the question, "What would make you feel safe?"
The answer came loud and clear that P3 full-face masks would give these brave men and women more confidence.
Like the Green Wattle Creek fire, a little campaign called Facemasks4Firies sparked and has now grown bigger than imagined.
The Facemasks4Firies campaign aims to provide each seat in a volunteer brigade truck with a P3 full-face mask fitted with a prefilter, particle filter and gas filter.
"Our firies are not just facing smoke from the bush burning but a smorgasbord of toxic gases and chemicals erupting from burning sheds, houses and cars, they (volunteer firefighters) need better protection," Ms Vines said.
A volunteer who reached out to us had spent time in the field and was using his own P3 full-face mask which he had purchased previously. The volunteer expressed how relieved he was and revealed that his fellow crew members weren't so lucky.
"Unfortunately, my other crew members did not have one and I had to watch them struggle through the smoke with only the disposable P2 masks," the volunteer, via Facebook messenger said.
"This left all of them with a bad cough and other symptoms of smoke exposure afterwards.
"A couple of them went and had full medical check-ups including chest x-rays afterwards which, returned less than favourable results."
Since the campaign began, more than 19 brigades spanning from Tasmania to Callington in South Australia to the New South Wales North Coast have either received P3 full-face masks or have their order currently on route for delivery.
A further 11 brigades have also been in touch and we are waiting for these brigades to finalise their orders.
Speaking with Berrima RFS, Brigade Captain Jed Poll following a week using the P3 full-face masks.
"When running the two filters (particle and gas filters) in the mask it makes a hell of a difference," Mr Poll said.
"You also don't get the heat through them, unlike the P2 masks. Being a full-face mask, you get better protection and you don't have the goggles fogging up. Overall it makes it a lot easier to fight a fire."
Although a number of fire grounds across the country have received some relief with recent rainfall, the fight is definitely not finished.
"If we get a severe storm, we have to pull everyone off the fire ground, because it is actually dangerous," Mr Poll said.
"The fire becomes unpredictable, it can flare up and go anywhere."
Our volunteers do so much for the communities they serve, whether it is giving their time after work to protect and serve or sacrifice a day with family on Christmas. The gratitude the Australian public has for these men and women can never be fully expressed.
But the job isn't finished yet, over the past few weeks we have received countless donations amounting to over $130,000 and so far, we have spent over $120,000 on supplying P3 full-face masks to volunteers.
We say thank you to the generous people who have donated and are directly empowering us to provide a protective care tool to our volunteers in real time.
If you would like to help the firefighting volunteers breathe easier please click the link to donate: http://www.rarecancers.org.au/campaign/66/facemasks4firies
All funds raised go to buying and shipping P3 full-face masks to volunteers all around the country.
