Opportunities abound for seasonal firefighters

‘For me, it’s my love of working in the outdoors, being amongst the bush and having that freedom,’ Kawtha says about his motivation for applying to be a seasonal firefighter. ‘It was knowing that the role would have challenged me and knowing that I would have gained valuable life skills while protecting the community and the environment.’

Kawtha was motivated to apply to be a seasonal firefighter after a peer from university spoke about his experiences, and now he shares this with others: ‘The variety of roles you perform being a seasonal firefighter feels like no two days are the same. You can go from slashing in a tractor one day and the next carrying out planned burns halfway across the state.’

‘The skills that you learn for this job could be used for so many different career paths. Many of the people that I started with in my first season are now people leaders, heavy machinery operators and highly skilled personnel integral to the Wimmera fire district and the wider FFMVic agency.’

As a firefighter in the Wimmera during the 2024/25 season, Kawtha and others were kept extremely busy as they worked at large fires in the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park and Little Desert National Park, amongst others.

‘The 2024-2025 fire season was extremely busy and exposed me to a lot of different roles within the incident control team, where I was largely based in. This included radio operator, emergency wildlife response and mixer and loader at the Stawell airbase.’

‘This experience was exhilarating, and you certainly wouldn’t get to do something like this in non-emergency work.’

For those thinking about applying to become a seasonal firefighter, Kawtha says: ‘just give it a go, you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain. I have learned many new skills during my time and some of those skills are still applicable even when you leave. If you’re looking for a job over summer that challenges you physically and mentally whilst protecting your local community, a summer spent with FFMVic is for you.’

More information

For more information, visit: Seasonal Firefighters Victoria.