The Dimboola-born acting forest fire operations officer has this year spent several weeks driving back and forth between the Horsham base and Gippsland in Victoria's east.

On each occasion, he has worked as part of a Wimmera task force helping to fight three separate out-of-control bushfires between January and March.

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"Doing those task forces week in, week out is very challenging," he said.

"We do seven-day deployments which usually involve a couple of days of travel and then five full working days where we could be on 10- to 14-hour shifts.

"It's extremely hot, you're wearing clothes that weigh you down and the terrain is steep and rocky. It's completely different to where we have to go to fight fires in the Wimmera - except for the Grampians."

Now in his ninth season with Forest Fire Management Victoria, Mr Elliott, 28, said he had gotten to know the other members of the Horsham depot well, due to the nature of their deployments.

When these happen, he has to work, travel and share bunk rooms with the same group of 20 people.

"It can be challenging if you're not used to working in big team environments, so you have to find mutual interests, work on them and get used to each other's company," he said. "There are a few blokes in the depot who have young kids and it takes a toll on them."

Mr Elliott is sharing his experiences as the Department of the Environment, Land, Water and Planning has called for more people to join them as project firefighters this season.

He said firefighting was just one part of his job.

"We also help look after state forests and national parks, maintaining tracks so vehicles have clear fire access," he said.

Mr Elliot moved to Horsham when he was 21, and became a project firefighter after beginning his working life as a laborer.

"A few years ago, I had an opportunity to do some weed spraying for Parks Victoria out at Wail over winter. They asked me if I'd be interested in doing it and I jumped at the chance," he said. "I guess the exciting bit for me was the amount of work we do with heavy machinery like bulldozers and excavators."

What followed was a month's worth of training - including a grueling fitness test at Horsham's Dudley Cornell Park at the height of summer.

"You have to run 4.8 kilometres in 45 minutes with a 20-kilogram weight vest on your back - unless you're under 68kg, then you can do it with 15kg," he said.

"That prepares you for what it's like fighting forest fires."

Another Horsham depot worker, Forest Fire Operations Officer Andrew Wall, has protected national parks from fires for 23 years.

Mr Wall began his work at Rushworth in central Victoria, and has since worked in Benalla in the state's north-east, in Shepparton, Bendigo and Western Australia.

"Fire management wasn't necessarily something I wanted to do - when I was at school I wanted to be a builder," he said.

"But I was involved in the Country Fire Authority and I was kind of already doing the work involved in forest fire roles through assisting family members. Part of my role is to lead some of those task forces away to other areas of the state."

Mr Wall, who has served in the Wimmera for the past four-and-a-half years, said the biggest changes he had seen in his time were a greater emphasis on safety.

"Twenty-plus years ago we went burning where we thought we needed to. Now there's a consultation process that goes on to reduce the impact on the community," he said.

A DELWP spokeswoman confirmed there will be 21 new recruits from the Wimmera district this fire season - nine from Parks Victoria and 12 from DELWP.

Parks Victoria's manager of emergency fire and operations, Andrew Graystone, said of the nine personnel they were seeking, four would work from Halls Gap and five at Wail. Mr Wall said the new recruits would join the eight permanent staff and five long-term contracted project firefighters at the Horsham base.

"As we move into the summer, the state makes a decision on numbers based on the predicted forecast and where we're at currently," he said.

"At the moment, the Wimmera has received average rainfall, so we're not looking too bad - but in the east of the state, there has been below-average rainfall, so their dryness is high.

"During the fire season, if it's 43 degrees and 45 kilometre-an-hour winds we obviously won't be out in the bush doing maintenance.

"Most of those days, in the mid-afternoon, I'll call the guys back to the base and we'll do different training scenarios so we're ready for an emergency response. We also have to be ready to help during floods and storms."

Mr Wall said the preparedness involved focusing on depot values.

"Things like integrity, honesty, being supportive, communication and safety. We talk about them often so that gets instilled within the group and when they're away they can be challenged and tested," he said.

Mr Wall summed up a forest firefighter's job as "intense but extremely fulfilling".

Mr Elliott agreed.

"I get a big kick out of working in a team environment and trying to do some good around the Wimmera district - it's really rewarding in that sense," he said.

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