Whether I’m holding a hose on the frontline or coordinating the response from the control centre, there is always that sense of urgency to help people in need, and relief when we have put out a fire.

The satisfaction of keeping communities safe is what keeps me and my fellow firefighters going. But the truth is, it gets a little harder each day because virtually everything else about the nature of our work is changing thanks to climate change.

First, we are up against more extreme conditions than in the past. Australia has always had bushfires, but at the start of my career in 1987, it was virtually unheard of to see fires generating their own firestorms and leaping across wide fire breaks, with trees igniting with no surface fire.

This is no longer the case. The fires we see today burn hotter, and require far more time and resources to put out than they used to in the past.

There has been an increase in the number of extreme fire weather days, and we have even seen a new category, “catastrophic”, added in 2009 to the fire danger rating scale. With one heatwave after another scorching much of the country, we are working in much hotter and riskier conditions.

The increasing frequency and intensity of bushfires places unprecedented demand on firefighting resources.

We need more investment in equipment, especially as longer fire seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres threaten the long-standing practice of countries like Australia and the US sharing big ticket items such as large water-bombing aircraft.

Beyond the dollars and cents, there is also a significant human cost we cannot ignore.

As a volunteer firefighter, it used to be that we worked a fixed, predictable fire season for a couple of months a year, and then spent the rest of the year focused on our families, farms and animals.

But gone are those days. We are required to be in ‘active duty’ mode almost all year round, and can never afford to drop our guard. Just look at 2018, where only two months were without fires in NSW and many local government areas were declared in the bushfire danger season in winter - earlier than ever before.

This isn’t easy. From my own experience and that of my colleagues, I know that being in a state of tense, adrenalin-filled anticipation during a fire danger period that extends for most of the year is not good for our mental or physical well-being.

This is made worse by the fact that we can’t take enough time out to recover and tend to our other responsibilities as the fire season lengthens. I have witnessed enough of my colleagues struggle with mental health impacts to know this is a recipe for burnout.

Things aren’t much better when rural firefighters—many of whom, like me, are also farmers—are off the clock. Going back to bone-dry paddocks, animals weakened by hunger and heat, and empty bores, provides little reprieve from what we witness on the job.

As I write this, communities in the ACT have just marked the anniversary of the devastating 2003 bushfires, while much of Victoria prepares to observe the 10th anniversary of the Black Saturday bushfires—Australia’s most devastating bushfires.

In a few months, the people of Tathra will mark a year since out-of-season March fires razed their town, which, ironically, is a leader in moving away from fossil fuels, the biggest cause of climate change, and moving to 100 per cent renewable energy instead.

Too many people already bear the mental and emotional burden of Australia’s increasingly frequent and extreme bushfires, and there are too many tragic stories of trauma, loss, and grief associated with this.

As a firefighter, farmer, and everyday Australian, I don’t want more dates in the calendar to carry the pain of a bushfire anniversary, and I don’t want perpetual exhaustion and stress to be the default working conditions for firefighters.

Firefighters and communities across the country are already working hard to keep people safe and healthy, against increasingly tougher odds. We need our elected leaders, who say they want to do right by their constituents, to follow this lead.

It is clear beyond a doubt what they need to do: Urgently phase out the fossil fuels that are fanning the flames of extreme weather, and shift to a future that is 100 per cent renewables-powered and doesn’t produce polluting greenhouse gases.

If our government doesn’t act on climate change, any claim they make to be serving the interests of everyday Australians is just hot air.

Vivien Thomson, AFSM, is a firefighter and farmer from NSW, and was awarded the Australian Fire Service Medal in 2004.