Pilot Adam Cassin admits fighting fires from the air during Black Summer was a frightening experience.
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The contractor followed blazes from Glenn Innes in northern NSW to Merimbula on the south coast and all the way to Victoria.
He worked non-stop from July 2019 to May 2020, such was the ferocity of the fires.
"When we started losing houses at Old Bar [on the NSW mid-north coast], I spent three days on a bucket-line ... just saving houses for three days," Mr Cassin, a regional airwork specialist for Microflite, said
"That was pretty big - and then we never stopped."
He described being up in the air during Black Summer as "pretty horrible".
"You almost felt a little bit panicky ... there's a few machines up there, but there's a lot of us chasing around," he said.
"You can see the flames licking into houses and on the gutters and ... it's dropping water and then trying to get back quick enough so that it doesn't get into the house."
"It gets your adrenaline going, when there's houses and people involved. And to know that you've helped is very rewarding.
"But it's very sad, seeing what's going on," he said.
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With an El Nino on the way and not a lot of fire activity for the past few years, Mr Cassin said it was "always gonna be scary" in the lead-up to the firefighting season.
"I've been doing it long enough to know it goes in cycles ... you have three or four seasons where it's pretty quiet .... but with all the rain ... that fuel is building up."
Mr Cassin was one of 200 specialists attending the international Aerial Firefighting Conference at Dubbo Rural Fire Service (RFS) Training Centre on August 2 and 3.
He joined delegates from the Asia Pacific, Europe and America sharing best-practice techniques and inspecting the latest technology in the field.
NSW RFS commissioner Rob Rogers and deputy commissioner Peter McKechnie were scheduled to present on local techniques. The CSIRO was presenting on climate change.
Julia Guy, international relations at Tangent Link - the company organising the conference - said the industry was known for helping other countries.
Also at the conference were Australian speakers who have been assisting with the recent fires in Canada, and some of the delegates from overseas have helped in Australia.
"When we had the fires in Australia during 2019/20 we had people from Canada, we had people from France, we had people from California," Ms Guy said.
"The communities do work in different countries when they're called upon ... there's a lot of cooperation within the communities to help other countries out."
One of the products on display from Australian company Rascal (Retardant and Suppressant, Computerised, Automated Loading) reportedly saves 50 per cent on fire retardant loading time, allowing aircraft to make twice as many trips during a fire.
The company was in negotiations with agencies in US and Europe to supply them with the technology, which was already being used by the NSW RFS.
There were also static technology displays over the two days and an RFS Chinook helicopter demonstration.
Other conferences were being held simultaneously in Athens and Seattle.
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Sarah Falson
My all-time favourite destination is ... Cornwall. From the giant seagulls to the blustery beaches, Cornish pasties and fishing villages, it stirs something romantic and seafaring in me.
Next on my bucket list is … Mongolia. I want to go somewhere really unique that feels totally foreign and challenges my way of life.
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