SMH.com.au
CATHERINE HILL BAY, Australia — Volunteer firefighters who spent Thursday trying to save their local communities from raging bushfires have returned to discover their own homes have been destroyed.
Almost 1500 firefighters in 470 fire trucks confronted difficult conditions on 98 fire grounds across the state. Two suffered facial and respiratory burns and were to being treated in hospital. In a separate incident, firefighters were forced to take shelter on the beach after an ember attack near Catherine Hill Bay.
Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said other volunteer members had been affected because their own homes had been destroyed while they were out fighting fires, particularly those burning in the Blue Mountains.
Full story: Volunteer firefighters face agony of own homes burning down