Should the Prime Minister risk his life fighting fires? News that Prime Minister Tony Abbott is intent on continuing his role as a volunteer firefighter, despite his elevation to PM, had set off a quiet debate even before the worst bushfires in more than a decade hit NSW, writes Laurie Oakes. TONY Abbott did today what any responsible, caring prime minister would do, visiting one of the communities devastated by bushfires raging out of control across NSW. But, as he inspected damage and sought to give comfort to those affected, one of the emotions Abbott no doubt felt was frustration. He would have had a strong urge to take off his prime ministerial hat, don his firefighter's helmet and join the thousands of yellow-clad volunteers battling the flames. Abbott has been a highly skilled member of the NSW Rural Fire Service for 13 years. He is a specialist breathing apparatus operator, chainsaw operator and tanker driver. Until he became Liberal leader four years ago. he was also deputy captain of the Davidson brigade in Sydney's Warringah Pittwater Rural Fire District. So it is natural that he would have wanted to pitch in with the other firies. And, if the emergency had struck last Sunday when he was on standby in Davidson Rural Fire Service truck number 5, that might very well have happened. Australia's prime minister might have been risking life and limb on the firefighting front line. The mere thought of it must cause nightmares among the Australian Federal Police officers assigned to protect him. News that Abbott is intent on continuing his role as a volunteer firefighter, despite his elevation to the prime ministership, had set off a quiet debate even before the worst bushfires in more than a decade hit NSW. Should a prime minister put himself in situations of personal danger? Is it fair to those responsible for his safety? Does he put others at risk? I understand and admire the PM's commitment to this kind of community service - his surf lifesaving activities as well as his firefighting. Back in January when Abbott and his brigade were deployed to fight a major bushfire near Nowra on the NSW south coast, a Labor minister accused him of engaging in a stunt. The minister was rightly condemned and forced to apologise. This has nothing to do with politics for Abbott. It is simply part of who he is. Six months ago, when someone mentioned his Rural Fire Service involvement at a gathering in Adelaide, Abbott told a revealing anecdote. "I was late for my first ever Cabinet meeting because I had been called out with the local fire brigade," he said. I finally got to the meeting a couple of hours after I should have, smelling like a barbecue. One of his colleagues took him to task, saying: "Tony, you're a Cabinet minister now." He replied: "You've got to be a human being before you can be a Cabinet minister." On ABC radio this morning, the father of a 19-year-old volunteer firefighter battling to save homes in one of the worst blazes west of Sydney spoke movingly about what his son had been through. The fact that the Prime Minister is a fellow fire service volunteer, willing to share the same experiences and take the same risks, must be an inspiration to that brave young man and thousands like him. "He's leading the way, " says Trent Dowling, captain of the Davidson brigade. I think it's fantastic. But since Harold Holt drowned at Cheviot Beach near Portsea in Victoria in December, 1967, Australia has gone to considerable trouble to protect prime ministers. Holt left behind in Melbourne the one policeman assigned to guard him. So these days it is 24/7 security for the nation's leader. But how do you protect a PM who is fighting a bushfire? When Abbott goes bike riding, his cops can ride with him, or follow in a car, or both. When he swims they can also slip into budgie smugglers and tag along. But firefighting is very different and very dangerous. So what can the AFP do? According to one security expert I spoke to today, they will certainly have a quiet word to try to ensure that he is assigned to duties on the periphery of any fire. "They won't want him going into any area they're not confident of getting him out of," the expert said. But Abbott's brigade captain, Dowling, is adamant that he will not be kept out of harm's way or given any special treatment just because he is the PM. "Not at all," Dowling told a Nine News journalist. He will be deployed as every other firefighter is in the rural fire service. AFP officers could hardly stay at Abbott's side if he was - like many of the firefighters seen on TV in the past few days - battling a wall of flame. And even if they did, what purpose would it serve? Members of the PM's security detail are not trained firefighters and they would not be thanked if they got in the way of those who are. It will probably boil down to the AFP simply offering advice on the kind of fire situations Abbott must avoid and hoping he takes heed. Accepting it might go against the prime ministerial grain, but he needs to remember that in a high risk situation it would not only be his life on the line. As a former AFP officer said today: "If Holt's policeman had been on the beach that day he'd have had to try a rescue and there would probably have been two deaths."