A group of Australian firefighters have thanked the local Sikh community for bringing them home-cooked meals as they tackled devastating bushfires.
Flame retardant was dropped from the sky as firefighters desperately tried to put out a blaze which sparked in bushland at South Turramurra on Sydney’s upper north shore on Tuesday afternoon.
The fire was brought under control within an hour but it came at a cost as one firefighter suffered a fractured arm and multiple homes were damaged.
Firefighters have thanked the local Sikh community for bringing them home-cooked meals after they bravely battled to save suburban homes in South Turramurra on Sydney’s upper north shore from bush fires
But after stemming the spread of the blaze, Hornsby Rural Fire Brigade shared a photo of its firefighters enjoying a well-deserved bite to eat courtesy of Turramurra’s Sikh Gurdwara.
Dozens of local Sikhs brought food and water to residents and firefighters before they headed to worship at a nearby temple.
‘A huge thanks to the Guru Nanak Gurudwara Turramurra Sikh Temple Sydney for providing meals to our hungry firefighters!’ the brigade wrote on Facebook.
The Gurdwara reciprocated the gratitude, responding by thanking firefighters for ‘all you do everyday in protecting the community’.
Residents of the under-threat homes joined the state’s fire service in putting out the blaze, which started in nearby bushland but spread through flying embers to back gardens.
New South Wales is under a week-long state of emergency, a declaration that gives the Rural Fire Service sweeping powers to control resources and direct other government agencies in its efforts to battle fires.
A catastrophic fire warning was in place for Sydney, as well as coastal communities to the city’s north and south.
The Australian fire season, which peaks during the southern hemisphere summer, has started early after an unusually warm and dry winter.
More than 3,800 square miles of forest and farmland had already burned across the state this fire season, more than three times the 1,080 square miles that burned during the entire last season.