Tucson firefighter helping to battle deadly wildfires in Australia

PHOENIX — Based out of Tuscon, Sean Cox has fought wildfires for 23 years, including serving on the historic Yarnell Hill Fire.

Now he’s in Australia, where wildfires have killed at least 25 people and destroyed 2,000 homes, serving as an air operations manager since the beginning of December.

“Compared to the scale, this is by far the largest fire I’ve ever participated on,” Cox told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

He described his role as working with “basically everything that flies in the sky that helps the firefighters on the ground, to intelligence-gathering, mapping, tactical application of suppressants, whether it’s gels or waters or retardant.”

“And we use that to the best means,” he said, “usually well choreographed with operations that the ground firefighters are doing.”

As for what kind of techniques and tactics the Arizona firefighter has used down under, he says they aren’t too far off from the ones back home.

“In terms of the complexities, there’s a lot of similarities to the fuel types we have in various locales there in the western U.S.,” Cox said.

But what moved him to lend a hand across the world from his family?

“I think it’s just the sense of purpose and the sense of duty to help others, something bigger than yourself,” he said. “That’s definitely something I’ve had throughout my whole life.”

“It’s an opportunity for me to learn from the Australians and, conversely, hopefully they will learn something from me as well.”

Cox, who is set to come home Jan. 11, ended up missing Christmas with his family, but he left the final decision up to his son.

“He has a fairly good grasp on what it is that dad does and the people that he help,” Cox said.

“And I think he really had the correlation with the wildlife that are down here and seeing some of the video footage that was coming across our national news.”

Two Arizona firefighters with the Bureau of Land Management — Koreena Haynes and Brady Shultz — are also in Australia, while two more — Cody Goff and John Garrett — are heading there this week.

Each of their deployments lasts 35 days.

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