Catching a breath on the firefront
This sculpture was commissioned in 2022 by the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) to honour all firefighters and contractors who have died in the line of duty. This life size bronze figure stands in a memorial garden in the RFS State Training Academy at Dubbo, NSW.
Photographer Alex Ellinghausen captured an image of firefighter Chris Montgomery during the 2019 Black Summer bushfires that will forever tell a story of the sacrifice of those who volunteer to stand between community and disaster. The sculpture is an interpretation of that photo – a solitary figure of an exhausted firefighter mid-battle. This modern archetype is etched deeply into the Australian psyche.
“I put my head down to get a breath of air and try to clear the smoke out of my eyes, I just needed 30 seconds or so, leaning on my rakehoe.” Montgomery remembers.
Photographer Alex Ellinghausen captured an image of firefighter Chris Montgomery during the 2019 Black Summer bushfires that will forever tell a story of the sacrifice of those who volunteer to stand between community and disaster. The sculpture is an interpretation of that photo – a solitary figure of an exhausted firefighter mid-battle. This modern archetype is etched deeply into the Australian psyche.
“I put my head down to get a breath of air and try to clear the smoke out of my eyes, I just needed 30 seconds or so, leaning on my rakehoe.” Montgomery remembers.
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Photos: © Alex Ellinghausen