The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) firefighter who died overnight on the state's Mid North Coast has been identified as an "experienced" 59-year-old who had been working for the organisation for nearly three decades.
It's believed the firefighter suffered a cardiac arrest after being struck by a falling tree while working on the Buladelah fire near Nerong, about 90km north of Newcastle, NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe said on Monday.
The firefighter was an NPWS field officer who started working for the service in 1996, she said.
"He was an experienced firefighter and a divisional commander."
"My thoughts are with his family, but my thoughts are also with the National Parks and Wildlife Service," she said.
"This is a very close and well-networked group with someone who has been in service for that long. There are many people who are touched today, as are all of the firefighters who work so closely together between the RFS [Rural Fire Service] and National Parks and Wildlife Service."
National Parks staff performed CPR on the firefighter until a NSW Ambulance crew arrived, but he died at the scene.
He had worked out of the Lake Munmorah depot for the past 25 years.
It was the first death of a NPWS firefighter since 2011.
A bushfire destroyed more than a dozen homes in Koolewong on the Central Coast, north of Sydney, on Saturday. Source: AAP / Dan Himbrechts
NSW RFS commissioner Trent Curtin said the Buladehlah blaze is now 3,500 hectares in size.
The field officer died while firefighters were undertaking backburns and increasing containment lines in the area overnight, he said.
The tree fell "as this firefighter was moving around the fire ground, checking in on colleagues, making sure everyone was safe and making sure everyone was had the right information on the fire ground".
Twenty homes have been destroyed in recent days. Four were lost at Bulahdelah, while 16 homes and seven outbuildings were destroyed at the Nimbin Road fire near Koolewong on the Central Coast. Nine more homes were damaged.
More than 250 firefighters were battling the fire at Koolewong at its peak. Source: AAP / Dan Himbrechts
NSW Premier Chris Minns said the firefighter's death was a "terrible reminder of how difficult and dangerous this work is", describing it as a "deeply distressing turn of events".
Just a week into the summer, the premier said it was a "foreboding beginning to the bushfire season".
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his heart went out to the "loved ones and colleagues of the firefighter who has tragically lost their life".
"All Australians are thinking of you in your time of grief," he said. "This terrible news is a sombre reminder of the dangers that our emergency services personnel face to keep our homes and communities safe — and the extraordinary courage that their job demands. We honour that bravery every day."
With conditions easing on Sunday after extreme heatwave conditions on Saturday, firefighters were able to strengthen containment lines.
While there are no current emergency bushfire or heatwave warnings, storms and damaging winds are expected to keep fire danger high across much of Australia.
Authorities are warning Australians to be prepared this bushfire season after a tragic start to the summer. Source: AAP / Dan Himbrechts
Federal and state disaster assistance funding has been activated across the Central Coast, Mid Coast, Upper Hunter, Muswellbrook, Warrumbungle and Dubbo.
Kristy McBain, the federal minister for emergency management, told bushfire-struck communities that "every Australian has [your] back".
"I know right now that there are families that are hurting, a couple of weeks out from Christmas, having lost their homes and their possessions," she said.
"We are here to assist, and we are working really closely with the New South Wales government and with local councils to understand how we can provide that assistance."
She noted that this year's high-risk weather season has already seen Tropical Cyclone Fina hit the Northern Territory, hailstorms in Queensland, and bushfires in Western Australia, Tasmania and now NSW.
"I think it's again a timely reminder for Australians to make sure that they have an emergency plan," she said.
"Make sure it's communicated with family and friends. Have an evacuation kit ready, including a wireless and batteries in case you lose mains electricity, and make sure you're aware of where your evacuation places are."
In Tasmania, authorities have confirmed that a 700-hectare blaze at Dolphin Sands, near Freycinet National Park on the state's east coast, was contained after overnight rain.
Nineteen homes were destroyed and 14 others sustained some damage in the fire sparked in the seaside community on Thursday. More than 120 smaller structures and electricity transmissions were also damaged.
— With additional reporting from the Australian Associated Press.
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