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Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service personnel, from left to right Ranger Kurt Zietlow from Cairns, Senior Ranger Brett Duke from Toowoomba, Senior Ranger Chris White from Atherton, Ranger Girresse De Simone from Springbrook, and Ranger Cooper Jenkins from Tewantin, prior to their departure to assist in fighting Victorian bushfires.
Five fire-trained Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) rangers are joining the fight against ongoing bushfires in western Victoria.
The rangers will join other interstate firefighters in response to significant bushfires near Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park, as part of an ongoing fight to preserve nearby communities and valuable ecosystems.
They are Senior Ranger Chris White from Atherton; Ranger Kurt Zietlow from Cairns; Ranger Girresse De Simone from Springbrook; Ranger Cooper Jenkins from Tewantin; and Senior Ranger Brett Duke from Toowoomba.
The rangers will form part of a 20-person taskforce that includes fire personnel from other state agencies, supporting crews from Victoria who have been fighting fires in the area since late 2024.
Due to the intense and rapidly-changing nature of bushfire response, the rangers have been put through rigorous fitness and practical testing to ensure they are equipped to face the task ahead of them.
The rangers flew to Melbourne on 6 February 2025 before heading to the fireground near the national park.
DETSI Deputy Director General Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service Ben Klaassen said they welcomed the opportunity to assist with the bushfire response.
“Current weather conditions in many parts of Queensland means we have capacity to deploy a crew of our fire-trained rangers to help out our southern neighbours,” Mr Klaassen said.
“We hope that our assistance will not only help protect nearby communities and the environmental and cultural values of Little Desert National Park and Grampians (Gaiwerd) National Park but will also give our counterparts some well-earned reprieve after a long bushfire season.
“We wish our team all the best over the coming days and a safe return, and of course are sending our thoughts to impacted Victorian communities.”
Senior Ranger Chris White said the deployment would be an opportunity for all involved agencies to learn from each other.
“I’m looking forward to helping out our Victorian neighbours and gain some new perspectives,” Ranger Chris said.
“Queensland rangers are no strangers to bushfires, but we can certainly learn a lot from the Victorian crews about how they do things on the fireground at a very large and complex incident”.
The QPWS crews are expected to return on 12 February.
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