Insight speaks to people who dedicated their lives to a passion - and then walked away from it all. Watch Calling It Quits on SBS On Demand .It was a like no other in Australia’s history. Millions of hectares of land burnt, thousands of homes destroyed, and 33 lives lost – including nine firefighters.
It was a like no other in Australia’s history. Millions of hectares of land burnt, thousands of homes destroyed, and 33 lives lost – including nine firefighters.
Thick smoke swallowed the sun and plunged day into night, and much of the east coast was blanketed by a haze of smog.
Throughout the chaos, former NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner, , became a steady voice that beamed into lounge rooms across the country. People grew to trust and rely on him.
Then, as the smoke cleared and COVID rolled around, Fitzsimmons announced he would be walking away from his role as RFS Commissioner – which had many people wondering why.
It’s been just over a year since Fitzsimmons left his role as commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service to head up a new state agency, Resilience NSW.
He had always planned to leave the RFS in 2019. In his view he needed to make way for someone new to take charge of the organisation after 12 years as commissioner.
"I didn't want to be that CEO or commissioner that outlived their relevance or their welcome,” Fitzsimmons told Insight’s Kumi Taguchi.
Holding true to his decision, in mid-2019, he notified the government of his intention to leave at the end of the year. The plan was he would leave after returning from a holiday with his wife in August.
RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons performance during the bushfire crisis has been praised. Source: AAP
But during his time away he began to sense the fire season ahead would be dire, so he decided to postpone his departure until after the season.
“Obviously we had no idea it was going to be as bad as what it was," he said.
The decision to stay was one that he was deeply grateful he made the call to do.
“I think I would have been a whole lot worse and wouldn't have coped had I not been part of that team during our darkest of times,” Fitzsimmons said.
But it also came at a cost – his decision to leave was now deeply complicated.
“Some of the most intimate conversations I've had with people, particularly after I left, people that were really distressed and really struggling through the season, you know, they’d say things like, 'Why did you leave us? Why did you desert us?'.” Fitzsimmons told Insight.
“There were so many things in my mind that were convincing me to stay."
“I really struggled to process that. I still struggle to process that to this day.”
He decided to stick to his decision and announced in early April he would be leaving the RFS after 35 years.
Before he was offered his new role with the NSW government, he said he had no idea what was next.
Charlotte O'Dwyer, the young daughter of RFS volunteer, Andrew O'Dwyer, receives her father's helmet by RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons. Source: AAP
“When I made the decision and reached the agreement to leave ahead of the 2019-20 fire season, I had no idea or no plan of what to do and it was really quite frightening.”
“You know, you've been part of something for so long and yes, you develop and evolve and you educate and you do things as you go along over several decades, but what is your worth somewhere else?”
The weight was lifted when Fitzsimmons was offered the role to head up a new state disaster preparedness and recovery agency, Resilience NSW – a position that would see him still involved closely with emergency services, disaster recovery and local communities.
But the transition hasn’t been without challenges. Last fire season was the first time in decades he had to sit on the sidelines.
“I remember very vividly, very early December of last year, I think the only really hot dry windy day, total fire bans, I was lost,” Fitzsimmons said.
“I kept checking my phone, I'm not getting these messages, where are we up to?”
“My wife Lisa, she said, 'You don't need to do this anymore'."
After 35 years so closely involved with the RFS, even the smallest of changes have been a big shift for Fitzsimmons,
“I've worn a uniform for decades. I haven't had to make a decision about what to wear. I struggle with what shirt goes with what tie goes with what suit."
“I have days where there's so many things that I miss.”
Despite all of this, Shane Fitzsimmons is firm in his resolve that stepping aside was something he doesn’t regret.
“I think the right decisions in so many contexts are often the most difficult."
