Fireflies

The smell of smoke and Lost River is enveloped in an eerie haze. Newcomer to the town, Lill, is anxious. Her husband Perry is at work and she is out alone on their 25-hectare once weekender. She doesn’t know how far away the fire is and doesn’t want to look a fool by calling for help. Finally a neighbour visits Lill’s house and re-assures her that the fire is 15km away and has been brought under control. But that night, Lill can’t sleep. She gets up and follows the glow of the distant fire. Eventually finding it beside the road north of town, she watches the amazing firies in action. Lill realises that belonging and surviving in this community means belonging to the RFS. The community of Lost River needs volunteers, the small town heroes without whom so many country towns would wither and die. There’s the captain, “Backa” Burke, everybody’s mate. There’s Joey, Mr Responsibility, with a serious demeanour that belies his youth. There’s Joey’s gorgeous girlfriend Fifi, a member of the notorious Sharp family, a family who knows no fear. There’s the equipment officer, silent Eris with the angelic singing voice. There’s lads and lasses and blokes in their 50s. Then Old Peg Beecher smashes her car and needs a lift to her CWA meeting, and the only one who can do it is Lill. Lill expected that being part of the community would be hard work, but she didn’t know you had to be a saint to even make a start! Meanwhile, the fire that they thought was put out is still smouldering, and Lill’s worst nightmare comes true. Even one bad fire can kill-but this time they’ll be fighting on two fronts.

The Fireflies continue their work to fight against the raging fire.

Lost River is in recovery from a devastating fire that nearly took the lives of some of their best firefighters and local farmers. Perry struggles to come to terms with the loss of his home, while Lill and his daughter Taz rival for his attention. Meanwhile tension mounts between Joey and Fifi over Fifi’s actions concerning their baby. Luisa learns that her secret love affair with the local cop Mike, is no longer a secret. It all comes to a head when Rebekah Sharp turns up and announces that Luisa’s husband Eris was inside a fire truck engulfed by flames. Suddenly Luisa realises that a lot more people know about her affair than she thought. She rushes to be with Eris who is feeling lost and alone. Backa is trying to deliver on his promise to be “there” for his wife Svettie, but his fire crew has been traumatised and there’s counselling to be done.

Gossip is spreading like wildfire through town about the fire brigade officer Eris Parsons shooting his dog. Eris and his wife Luisa aren’t around to set the record straight, they’ve gone into hiding. Seems like everyone in Lost River has something they’re trying to escape from. Svettie is trying not to drown in her problems. Her husband’s uncle Jeff is holding the purse strings of her family’s finances and she’s tired of husband Backa not standing up for her. She runs away to a seaside hotel for a night of something she desperately needs; pampering. While she’s away Backa must juggle his family and work life with the captaincy of the Lost River Rural Fire Brigade and it’s no easy task. Backa’s younger brother Joey has returned to Lost River for Fifi and their unborn baby. But things aren’t the same anymore and the couple can’t seem to connect. Joey retreats to a caravan in order to figure his life out. Meanwhile children’s book illustrator Lill is finding it increasingly difficult to reconcile work with the commitments that come with being part of the Lost River community and when her business partner KC arrives from Sydney, Lill realises she can’t escape. But there are other distractions in the form of firefighting and after accompanying Backa to the scene of a potentially dangerous fire Lill is hooked.

One of the realities of living in the bush is making the best out of a bad situation, which Lill and Perry are learning to do fast. Their shed has been overrun with rats, Perry is working on rebuilding their dream house after it was destroyed by fire and Lill struggles to meet an urgent work deadline in the surrounding chaos. It seems the world is conspiring against her. A regular commitment to drive Peg Beecher on a couple of errands turns into a lengthy nightmare when Peg falls sick and needs to get to a hospital. Backa is down at the station to receive the brigade's new fire truck. He is worried about crew numbers and pushes fire control officer Bryce to do a Basic Firefighting Course so Lill and the other recruits are trained up before the bush fire danger period really hits. Uncle Jeff has seized control of Backa and Svettie's finances and insists that Svettie undergo a weekly inquisition on the books. She comes up with a plan to make money so she can get her family out of Jeff's clutches. For this she needs the help of friends Sharpie and Rebekah, but it's not without risk. Fifi attempts a reconciliation with Joey but he's still confused by her previous behaviour and turns her away. Alone in her room, Fifi contemplates life as a single mother and how it will affect her future.

Backa and Svettie each have a vision for their financial future. Unfortunately they are vastly different. And they are both about to make a deal with the devil. Svettie wants to invest in a marijuana crop with Sharpie but for now, she's keeping it a secret from her husband. Sharpie is less than thrilled with the prospect of going into business with an inexperienced mother of two and sets out to train her in the art of Basic Dope Growing. Things look set to fall apart when a local cop gets wind of what they're up to. Backa has his own training project to manage: Basic Fire Fighting for the new Lost River firies, but he has other things on his mind too. Backa's got that stuck feeling: he's living in a shop when he was born for the land. Taking the initiative to realise his dream, he pays a visit to Uncle Jeff to cut a deal over the family property - but he's keeping it a secret too. For Lill, the fire fighting course gives her a glimpse of the service she has joined and she's not sure if she's cut out for it. While Lill's away learning how to fight fires, Perry continues to rebuild his cave, the mud brick masterpiece. Patto is onsite to help with the job but it's not all smooth sailing. When Patto tries to teach Perry a few tips of the trade, tempers flare.