FORTY-five firefighters from the western region left the region on Wednesday morning for a five-day deployment in flood-ravaged Port Macquarie.
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The firefighters are part of three strike force teams and have taken 10 trucks from Bathurst, Dubbo and Leeton with them.
NSW Fire and Rescue acting Superintendent Tim Climo said the firefighters are volunteers and come from all over the region, including Bathurst, Kelso, Blayney, Cobar, Delroy, Gilgandra, Trangie, Temora, Molong and Canowindra.
"These are our on-call firefighters. They have a primary employment, so when something like this happens, they put up their hand and their employer releases them from work or they might take annual leave," he said.
In Port Macquarie, the firies will join with other emergency service agencies to assist with the flood recovery effort.
They will be tasked with a wide range of jobs with the primary goal of making it safe for people to return home.
"Depending on what's happening at the time, they could be helping with rescues, assisting with pumping out homes filled with water, removing debris and washing out mud from homes," acting Supt. Climo said.
Firefighters could also be asked to assist other services with restoring electricity and to carry out rapid damage assessments of homes.
The assessments help to coordinate repairs and prioritise the jobs.
As the Central West has only seen minor flooding, communities are in a position to send resources to the worst affected areas.
Acting Supt Climo said that, as these firefighters are all volunteers, their communities won't be left under resourced should there be any emergencies over the coming days and weeks.
More firefighters are expected to travel to Port Macquarie over the next few weeks.
"This will be going on for weeks. These crews will more than likely be relieved and more people will go down Sunday and Monday," acting Supt Climo said.
