Narrabri Shire organisations and individuals have joined the battle against the state’s bushfires, with on the ground firefighting teams and support personnel, plus donations of goods for fire victims.

Strike teams have been rotated from Narrabri Shire’s Fire and Rescue stations and Rural Fire Service to fight fires in the New England and Northern Tablelands areas.

Local firefighter strike teams have been  engaged in firefighting since September 7.

The unprecedented seven day ‘state of emergency’  declared across NSW on Tuesday saw a worsening to catastrophic conditions of what has been an ongoing bushfire emergency for weeks.

On Tuesday, RFS and Fire and Rescue crews were kept at readiness at their stations in Narrabri and in centres across NSW as the state wide emergency was in place.

Narrabri Fire and Rescue acting deputy captain Gavin Hanna said while personnel were deployed to other areas, a full capability was retained at local stations.

“The stations are manned during the state of emergency until told otherwise,” he said.

Narrabri has rotated teams for seven days to New England and Northern Tablelands fires, with five days at the fire and a day at each end for travel.

Tankers and personnel have been concentrated at strategic points in the fire areas. A Narrabri water tanker was despatched to Glen Innes for the Torrington fires.

The SES has ferried vehicles to Glen Innes for the RFS and provided logistical support.

Tuesday’s state of emergency saw fire fighters officially on standby at stations and depots across NSW.

Narrabri Fire and Rescue acting deputy captain Gavin Hanna said the conditions were the worst he had experienced.

“I have been engaged in fire fighting for 17 years and have never seen this before,” he said.

Narrabri Fire and Rescue is well equipped and with sufficient staff numbers to be able to provide rotation strike crews for deployment to other areas and maintain an appropriate staff presence in Narrabri at the same time.

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