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)They were the heroes of the Black Summer, inspirational figures who protected lives and homes during one of Australia's worst bushfire seasons.
But behind the international praise and public goodwill, the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) has been rocked by claims a culture of bullying and harassment has developed within its ranks.
RFS Commissioner Rob Rogers was on Tuesday forced to acknowledge allegations of sexual and physical assaults, discrimination and sexual harassment, after they were aired on an RFS members' Facebook page.
It was revealed two complaints had been referred to NSW Police for investigation and one volunteer is suing the organisation over alleged sexual and physical assaults.
The ABC has been inundated with stories of alleged incidents across the state in which volunteers say they have been indecently assaulted on fire grounds, left off fire trucks, had their tyres slashed and been subjected to verbal harassment after whistle-blowing about inappropriate or fraudulent behaviour.
Facebook: NSW Rural Fire Service
)One female volunteer from the Hunter Area Command told the ABC the RFS's reckoning had been a long time coming.
"The amount of women, including myself, that have been sexually assaulted is shocking," she said.
"But we don't want to come forward and report as we will be bullied by the other male members who like the guy."
She claims she was groped and sexually assaulted on a fire line while in "a vulnerable location".
"I couldn't push him off as he would have fallen down a steep embankment and been very injured — I didn't want to do that to the team," the 17-year veteran said.
"We were all tired and wanted to go home, so I just shut up and gritted my teeth through it."
Supplied: NSW Rural Fire Service
)The woman said she didn't report the matter as the man was well loved and "no-one would believe me".
"I would become 'that girl' who people wouldn't want to work with.
"We have all heard of ladies coming forward [with a complaint] and then the men in her station refuse to get in a truck with them in case she makes up stories about them too — totally rallying around the man to protect him."
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Another volunteer said she had supported a friend who was sexually harassed by an RFS member. But while investigating her complaint the RFS only spoke to the alleged perpetrator, while a senior male colleague told the complainant: "There are no laws against being creepy."
Like many volunteers, these women reported frustration in their attempts to navigate what they described as a "dysfunctional" complaints process.
It's a familiar story for Alex and Sam (not their real names) who quit the RFS in 2019 after they say Alex was subjected to bullying from their brigade.
"In late 2017, another member approached my wife to ask her whether things were okay at home, and he heavily inferred that I was violent to my wife and offered her a place to stay if she wanted to leave me," said Alex.
The couple have been married for 11 years and say their relationship has always been positive, strong and free of violence.
Around the same time, Alex started to feel ostracised by other brigade members.
"Nobody would speak to me at training and I became increasingly fearful of attending call outs with people who apparently hated me so much," Alex said.
"In the field, near misses and accidents happen very quickly, and I felt I couldn't trust anyone to step in if they saw that something dangerous was about to happen to me."
Just over two years later, when it was clear the situation was never going to improve, Alex and Sam both resigned from the RFS and made a complaint to two senior brigade members.
They both were shocked and promised to follow it up, but Alex claims that after months of waiting, they were told by the local Fire Control Centre the matter had been "taken care of".
"No details were forthcoming, and no apology was made for the experience I'd had," Alex said.
"My wife and I will never return to the RFS or support it in any way."
A spokesperson for the RFS said the organisation was unable to comment on specific matters, however it encouraged anyone with a serious complaint to report it to police.
Commissioner Rogers again wrote to members on Thursday, to express his "deep concern" at sexual harassment and discrimination allegations and reinforce his expectations of members.
"In a volunteer-based organisation, where we consistently rally together to protect those who are most in need, it is impossible to understand how any of our members can justify perpetration of such acts let alone engage in this appalling behaviour," he wrote.
"Such behaviour is simply not on and it will not be tolerated.
On average each year, 25 complaints of bullying harassment and discrimination are dealt with by the RFS's Professional Standards Unit and Area Commands out of a membership of 75,000.
A review is now underway into the RFS's complaints process and is expected to be finalised before the end of the year.
'If you want to stay, keep your mouth shut'
Several volunteers the ABC spoke to said they were subjected to bullying and even counter-complaints from other members, after exposing inadequacies or breaches in protocol.
A former volunteer of five years in the Central West said she was made to feel "like a piece of dirt on somebody's shoe" after she was wrongly accused of accessing confidential information on an RFS laptop.
When she was eventually cleared by head office, the woman claims she was excluded by her brigade from fire calls, training and social events.
"I was found not guilty but that doesn't stop everybody in town treating me as if I'm a criminal," she said.
The grandmother believes the complaint against her was retribution after she made allegations of fraud within her brigade.
She said if she had her time again, she probably wouldn't have made the initial complaint.
"If something happens ... you don't report it, you don't say anything, you don't do anything about it, because if you do you are just put through the wringer," she said.
"If you want to stay in the RFS you keep your mouth shut and your head down because as soon as you speak out and say, 'Hey, look, this is inappropriate,' you've just totally and utterly sunk yourself."
This is the dilemma another volunteer found himself in after he reported the fraudulent use of an RFS fuel card at a brigade in southern NSW. He claims his tyres were slashed and other members refused to let him ride in the truck with them to jobs.
He was ultimately voted out of the brigade by his fellow members, in a process the RFS says is "fundamental" to the Service.
"A brigade's ability to democratically determine its membership is fundamental to the way in which the RFS operates as a volunteer organisation," former Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons wrote to the volunteer in late-2015, to confirm his removal from the brigade.
"It is also important to ensure harmony within brigades so that members may function effectively in emergency situations."
Some volunteers are concerned the system encourages cliques to develop within brigades, and for volunteers who dare complain to be removed, without serious issues being investigated.
They fear that by voting for senior brigade members, the process becomes a popularity contest, where the best people for the job aren't always the ones leading the group.
The RFS spokesperson said the Service had "no plans to change processes as outlined within our Brigades Constitution in which our members vote for field positions, brigade executive and their membership".
One former brigade captain in the state's central west who had also been a staff member, said bullying and harassment was "now a culture" within the RFS.
He said despite the internal politics, volunteers were still committed to getting the job done.
"Australians being Australian, they'll put anything behind them to help their mates," he said.
