The young daughter of a volunteer firefighter killed in bushfires in Australia has worn his helmet at his funeral in Sydney.
Andrew O’Dwyer, 36, was in a convoy fighting blazes southwest of Sydney on 19 December when a tree fell and caused the vehicle to roll off the road.
He and another volunteer firefighter, Geoff Keaton, both fathers to 19-month-old children, died at the scene.
The commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Shane Fitzsimmons, pinned a medal on O’Dwyer’s young daughter during his funeral and presented her with her father’s helmet.
“A genuine, decent guy, he loved family, loved brigade, loved outdoors, and loved serving his community,” he said during the service.
Rural Fire Service volunteers and representatives from other emergency service agencies paid their respects as O’Dwyer’s coffin was carried in a hearse.
