THE Black Saturday bushfires saw emergency service workers from across Australia pulling together to render assistance.

Senior Sergeant Paul McBride of Ringwood police was sent to Yarra Glen with a team of officers to assist communities.

He started at 9am on February 7 and worked until 3am the following day.

"We had a bit of a sleep and were back into it on the Sunday morning, we were up there for a month," he said. "It was probably one of the busiest shifts I've ever worked in policing.

"I've had some 12 years working on planning for a fire such as this and, as a result of that, I was there on the day and put our plans into place."

Senior Sergeant McBride described the fires as "fairly hectic and frantic".

"I was working with [Senior Constable] Stuart Sorrell and once we set the masking point up, we managed the police who were going into the fire areas.

"I guess [we had] a lot of concern for the community, I lived in Yarra Glen many years ago so I know the area quite well. It was fairly tragic but I had a job to do, as with all the police involved."

He said it was difficult having to deal with the devastating circumstances without getting emotional.

"You tend to put on your professional hat and get in and do the job, [but] it can be quite touching.

"Many of the police officers from Ringwood actually worked in the fire area, in fact probably every one of our staff had some involvement in the fires.

"We actually recalled people who had days off and things like that, they all worked extraordinarily long shifts to the point of exhaustion.

"No police members were injured officially in any of the fires...I guess it's a bit of a tribute to the planning and the way we do business, the way we look after each other.

"But it was really a tough time for everybody involved, as it was for many people in the community and the fire brigade and the other emergency services."

He would "never forget" the devastation caused by the fires.

"The day before Black Saturday, you'd drive down some of those roads and you couldn't see about five to 10 feet into the bush, then all of a sudden you could see everything, you could see right through."

Senior Sergeant McBride was disappointed people were still deliberately lighting fires.

"We get onto it fairly quickly and of course the CFA and DSE firefighters put their heart and soul into quickly putting out these fires and extinguishing them before they cause any property damage."