‘Someone could lose their life’: Waiting in agony for an ambulance in a remote border town

Volunteer firefighter Rodney O’Keeffe had been under a cold shower at the Jingellic football oval for more than an hour.

He was shivering despite the intense heat, trying to bring some relief to his body, which was covered in severe burns.

His canary-yellow uniform had burned into his skin and a local at the bushfire relief centre had to tear it off. There was no medication available to relieve the searing pain.

But while he was waiting in agony at the NSW border town, there was help close by — a veteran remote area nurse had been trying to get to him.

She was stuck at a roadblock, less than a kilometre away, on the other side of the border in Victoria.