Girl stuck at WA/SA border writes thank-you notes for South West firies

Up at the crack of dawn and battling blazes until the sun sets.

Each night last week, volunteer firefighters from around the South West returned to their camp in Norseman, tired and covered in smoke.

And every time, they found heart-warming handwritten notes left for them.

“Thank you so much for helping with the fires,” one read.

“I’m stuck on holiday and stuck here and need to get to Perth in two weeks and I hope you can make it happen and thanks for keeping me safe.”

Below the note was a drawing of a hose putting out flames.

The author of the notes was a young girl from Queensland, stuck in the Goldfields with her parents after bushfires closed roads in and out of Norseman.

Roelands/Olive Hill firefighter Jeremy Gunson said it was a great morale boost for the crew, which included firefighters from Manjimup, Leschenault and Witchcliffe among others.

“After our first day out we came back in and this young girl came up to us with a rolled up piece of paper,” he said.

We read it and it was bloody great.

“One of the other fellows found a note in his boot, and another found one on the tanker. We ended up with about five or six during our deployment. Every night we came in, we saw the young girl and she had another little present for us to say thank you.

We came back in all covered in dust and everything else, and there she is smiling and waving to us. That just made our day.

One of the letters was on pink paper — written especially for the “lady firefighters”.

“It is amazing to see girls like you fighting the fires...I would love to be like you ladies and getting rid of the fires to help the animals get their homes back,” it read.

Mr Gunson said helping the community was what it was all about, and to show their gratitude, driver Nick Madaffari took the young girl and her parents around Norseman in the truck.