...........On the night of his election, he shared a joke with his NSW Rural Fire Service brigade captain Trent Dowling about heading out the next day to tackle a small fire already burning.

"He laughed and said 'Mate, I think I'll be in briefings'," Mr Dowling said yesterday.

"Tony the whole way along has always said this is something that keeps him grounded and something he likes to do. He is the first person to get in there and clean the toilets and I'm sure that will still be the case.

He is just a do-er. He is just firefighter Tony Abbott

."
Some of Mr Abbott's colleagues from the Davidson brigade were yesterday dispatched to help contain a series of large fires in Sydney's west. Still stuck in briefings, Mr Abbott tweeted: "Bushfire situation in NSW a real worry. My thoughts are with local communities impacted and fellow RFS personnel on the frontline."

Queenscliff Surf Life Saving Club president Kevin Harris expects Mr Abbott to also be on beach patrol this summer. Throughout his parliamentary career, Mr Abbott has every year maintained the fitness, surf-lifesaving and first aid skills required for duty at Manly, one of Sydney's northern beaches.

"It will be interesting to see how people respond to the prime minister in his clubbie hat and clubbie gear on patrol," Mr Harris said.

On the beach yesterday, local swimmer Catherine Hodds said it would be "pretty awesome" to be rescued by the PM. Her friend and flatmate Lauren Trevenen said Mr Abbott's interest in surf-lifesaving captured "the culture of Australia"...........



..................Mr Dowling said when Mr Abbott reports for duty at the Davidson RFS brigade, it won't matter where he is living or what he now does for a job.

Mr Abbott secured his place in history last Saturday but he earned his firefighting stripes back in December 2001, when he and the brigade worked long shifts after a deadly fire tore through Sydney.

"It is the whole thing the brigade and the service is built on," Mr Dowling said. "It doesn't matter what you do outside, whether you are a plumber, a student, unemployed or in this case, the prime minister. The rule that we have at our station is once you pull that uniform on everyone is in the same boat.

"Anyone who bags him for pulling on the uniform and thinks it is a picture opportunity, I would suggest they do the course and join the brigade and come and see what we do."

I'll bag abbott,

He is an environmental terrorist.