Firie's haunting Instagram post before he died battling blaze with young dad
A firefighter killed while battling a blaze in western Sydney posted an image to social media just moments before he tragically died alongside another young father and colleague.
Geoffrey Keaton, 32, and Andrew O'Dwyer, 36, were travelling in a truck convoy near the town of Buxton, southwest of Sydney, late on Thursday when a tree fell, causing their tanker to roll off the road.
The pair are fathers of young children born just two days apart.
Mr O'Dwyer joined the NSW Rural Fire Service in 2003 and was a member of the Horsley Park Brigade.
The amateur photographer boasts numerous photos on his social media of Australia’s countryside and his own exhausting work.
Just moments before his truck veered from the road, the 36-year-old posted on Instagram an image of numerous fire trucks lined up in Picton with the caption, “Night shift”.
His profile description reads: “Explore, discover, adventure and enjoy what's right in front of you because it might not be there tomorrow.”
Mr Keaton joined the NSW Rural Fire Service in 2006 and was the deputy captain of the Horsley Park Rural Fire Brigade in western Sydney, and a former member of the Plumpton Brigade.
Mr Keaton and his partner, Jess, have a son, Harvey, and Andrew has a daughter, Charlotte, with his partner Mel. Both children are 19 months old.
"They are at a loss," NSW RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said of the pair's families. Christmas is five days away.
"They're in extraordinary shock and natural despair at the enormity of what's confronting them and to try and comprehend the tragedy."
Three other firefighters also in the vehicle were injured, but managed to free themselves from the wreckage and were taken to hospital.
In a tragic coincidence, Mr Keaton’s father John was working on the mega blaze at Gospers Mountain, northwest of Sydney, while his son was at the Green Wattle Creek fire.
The Keaton family, Mr Fitzsimmons noted, had a long family tradition of volunteering.
"Both of these men were very well respected, they were very close, they're a close-knit brigade, they're a very community-focused brigade, they work together, socialise together, they're very interactive together," he said.
The deaths had shocked the RFS "to the core", Mr Fitzsimmons said.
"They're ordinary, everyday individuals – like you and I – that go out and simply want to serve and protect and make a difference in their local community and they don't ever go out in the knowledge that they might not come home from that shift," he said.
Firefighters’ deaths a ‘terrible loss’
Tributes were flowing on the NSW RFS Facebook page on Friday for the two firefighters, while the Horsley Park Rural Fire Brigade page posted a poem ending with "forever in hearts, always in our memories".
"This is heartbreaking," one post said. "The death of 'brothers' on active duty has, and always will, rock me to the core," said another.
NSW Rural Fire Service Association president Brian McDonough said the firefighting fraternity was in mourning for the pair.
"Our members know that what we do can be dangerous, but nothing can take away the pain we all feel when facing such terrible loss," Mr McDonough said in a statement on Friday.
A GoFundMe fundraising page has been established for their families. As of 5pm on Friday it has raised more than $25,000.
Members of the Horsley Park RFS were seen at a memorial for the firefighters at the Horsley Park Rural Fire Brigade on Friday.
In Victoria, the Country Fire Authority's Steve Warrington said his state's firefighting community joined their NSW counterparts in mourning the deaths.
More than 100 Victorian firefighters are helping with the NSW effort.
– with AAP
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