The Australian fighting spirit has never been more evident in trying times.
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Duane Cambridge and his son Bailey were one of the many people on hand to cook up a barbecue of the residents of Balmoral Village in the new year.
Balmoral was one of the hardest hit villages in the Southern Highlands before Christmas, with the Green Wattle Creek Fire sweeping through on both the Thursday December 18 and Saturday December 20.
Many homes were destroyed and damaged in the Green Wattle
Duane, a former Australian Army chef answered the call by an ex-army colleague Robert Mills who wanted to help the community and RFS volunteers and Balmoral Village RFS Captain Brendon O'Connor.
Captain O'Conner hoped to lift the spirits of hundreds of heartbroken residents with a street party on December 30. Unfortunately the street party has been postponed until the fire danger had eases.
"Within 24 hours of the original post by an ex-army mate, we were on the ground cooking," he said.
"More than $3000 was raised in donations as well as all the food donated by The Three Swallows Hotel in Bankstown and Tony Mangan of Food Services from Wollondilly.
"We appreciated all the support.
"It was awesome to see all the town out talking about what they need with each other."
The barbecue dinner was held on Friday evening with the former Army buddies staying the next day to serve up breakfast as the RFS volunteers faced extreme fire conditions.