Opal mining communities in north-western New South Wales are petitioning to rename one of the region’s main roads after a volunteer firefighter who died trying to save homes from bushfires.
Leo Fransen, the captain of the Diamond Beach rural fire service, almost 700km south-east of the opal mining town, died in the Hudson fire which burned through 22,000 hectares and destroyed 12 homes in the area around Lightning Ridge in November last year.
The 75-year-old was struck by a falling tree on the fire ground on 16 November. He was part of a strike team sent to the area to tackle the fire, which was then threatening the Glengarry opal fields, about 70km from Lightning Ridge.
Fransen’s death has reverberated around the opal fields. Flags flew at half-mast at the local war memorial and his funeral was livestreamed at the Glengarry Hilton, an open-air pub in the mining town. A petition has been launched for the Walgett Shire Council to rename Grawin Road, the main road leading into the fields, to Capt. Leo Fransen Way, and a plaque will be set among the war memorial grounds as a permanent commemoration.
Residents of the remote Grawin, Glengarry and Sheepyard opal fields, west of Lightning Ridge, are an independent lot. Miners are used to hard work and to solving whatever problem presents itself. Accepting help from across the state and abroad during the Hudson fire was a humbling experience, locals say.
After the flames were extinguished and the firefighters had moved on, the community has residents rallied to rebuild.
Chris Burden, the president of the Sheepyard war memorial, says the event has “brought the community much closer”.
“The fire burned right to my place; I don’t know how the place didn’t burn,” he says. “I’ve been through a couple of floods in my life and this fire scared the crap out of me. I was on my way home from work and I got here about five minutes after [the flames] and the planes had [water] bombed all around my place.”
The war memorial hosted a barbecue for volunteer firefighters and others who helped in the disaster effort. Supermarkets donated bottled water, opal buyers auctioned black opal and donated the proceeds, and the butcher shop, opened only three weeks prior, provided meat. Part-time opal miners offered emergency accommodation to those who had lost their homes.
The Lightning Ridge golf club also ran an auction which raised more than $23,000.
“In March 2021 a twister took the roof of the golf club and a lot of people were involved in us getting back on our feet,” the club president, Brad Loiterton, says. “Raising money for victims of the Hudson fire was our way of giving back.”
The Hudson fire was declared a natural disaster on 28 November, making those affected eligible for state government assistance. But the process to apply for those grants can be lengthy, Loiterton says. “We wanted to raise money as quick as we could and get it to the people who needed it as quick as we could.”
Canadian pilot Kevin, who asked that his surname not be used, flew one of the water-bombing planes used in the Hudson fire. The plane is part of an international aerial firefighting support arrangement, on secondment from British Columbia with Conair Canada. Kevin is a gold prospector in Canada, and asked to be shown around the opal fields after the fire. He was met by a packed crowd at the Glengarry Hilton, all of whom wanted to shake his hand or buy him a beer.
“I saw all the damage and my heart sank to see how close [the fire] had come to homes,” he says.
“One lady told me how all she could see were flames and smoke around her house and then she saw my plane come over [to save it]. Another person wrote me a two-page letter.
“It is a kind-hearted community with wonderful, caring people and I am humbled because I think their praise is misdirected. It’s the people on the ground who deserve the recognition.”
For many residents of the opal fields, who are used to operating heavy machinery and living off the grid, being thrust into the spotlight resulting from the flames has been a challenging experience. Some have lost homes and relocated; others have lost machinery. All are grateful for firefighters who came from far and wide to assist, for pilots who dropped fire retardant and to one captain whose name has been etched into the community consciousness for ever.
