General News
11 July, 2022
Maryborough Fire Brigade mark busy year
The Maryborough Fire Brigade turned out to more than 100 incidents in its busiest year since the pandemic began yet despite this, found time to recruit an additional nine members and awarded a number of members for their contributions and service...
The Maryborough Fire Brigade turned out to more than 100 incidents in its busiest year since the pandemic began yet despite this, found time to recruit an additional nine members and awarded a number of members for their contributions and service.
The brigade held its 161st AGM at the Maryborough Highland Society on July 1, where Captain Darryl Wagstaff delivered his report on the previous 12 months.
Covering the prior June to July financial year, the brigade attended 115 turnouts — including a significant fire at a chicken farm in Carisbrook which saw just over 45,000 chickens lost in November — which Captain Wagstaff said was busy compared to the previous pandemic years.
“The last year has been busy in comparison to the years we’ve had with the COVID lockdowns, we got back to normal numbers for turnouts even though numbers were a little bit lower than pre-pandemic,” he said.
“For large call outs we had, the Kinross chicken farm was the biggest we had for those 12 months and we were in support of Carisbrook as it was their fire.
“We were fortunate enough not to have a large fire in our area in that 12 month period.”
According to the report, Thursdays were the busiest days for incident callouts locally, closely followed by Tuesdays, with the number of false alarms and false calls reaching 22 in the past year.
Captain Wagstaff said the number of false alarm call outs the brigade received are the highest they’ve been.
“The number of false alarm call outs have increased over the 12 months and at the moment we’ve probably peaked at the highest we’ve ever been,” he said.
“That’s due to a number of things, one of those is people who call in a fire on a mobile phone when they’re passing an incident and don’t stop and investigate before they call it in.
“We’re getting a lot of calls coming in for unattended fires which actually are attended, but when people drive past they don’t see people there and just call it in.
“People need to be a little bit more vigilant in reporting fires and make sure they actually are a genuine fire, not someone’s burn off or an incident that’s under control.”
Also noted at the AGM was the brigade’s membership which has grown to 43 after nine additional firefighters joined in the last 12 months.
Captain Wagstaff welcomed the new members who he said added to the brigade’s skill set.
“We have had nine new members which is a really strong number and it’s great to have some new young members join as well,” he said.
“Through the two years of the pandemic we had no new members join and it’s good to get some youth into the brigade, it certainly helps lower our average age.
“We do have a broad mix of young and old as well as male and female and also a broad skill base across the brigade.”
During the AGM, five brigade members received Service Awards presented by CFA Deputy Chief Officer Garry Cook, including Vivian Wilkinson for 15 years’ service, Brad Lockhart, Tim Macdonell and Raeleen Williams for 20 years and Gary Peterson for 40 years of service to the CFA.
In-house awards were also presented to a number of members, with new recruit Charles Newman awarded New Recruit of the Year.
At 21, Mr Newman is one of the brigade’s youngest members and said he was surprised to receive the award having only joined in October last year.
“My mate Zac Hulls is in the brigade and recommended it to me, he told me to come down and see what it was all about,” he said.
“I figured it would be something new to learn and now I’m absolutely loving it.
“Having joined in October I’ve never been to a brigade AGM, I didn’t even know they had awards until I looked at the program so it was a surprise when my name was called.
“It felt really good, it’s nice to be recognised and it inspires me to do more with the brigade moving forward.”
For the second year running, the brigade’s Third Lieutenant Isla Douglas was named Firefighter of the Year, nominated for the award by her peers and fellow brigade members.
The award is judged by the Brigade Management Team and is based on members’ performance and involvement in categories such as fire/emergency call attendance, training attendance and overall community involvement and brigade duties.
Third Lieutenant Douglas said to become the second woman in 33 years to receive the award last year, she was humbled to again be awarded.
“It’s very humbling to be honest, I certainly don’t expect any awards or anything like that being a volunteer with CFA,” she said.
“I think volunteering with the CFA is a case of getting out what you put in, I’m fortunate enough that I’ve got time I can dedicate to training, turnouts and community involvement.
“If people are interested in joining the brigade, don’t worry if you don’t think you’ll be able to make every turnout or don’t think you’re strong enough or fit enough — anyone can have a go.
“We’re always happy to have new members come along, the brigade is open to everyone of any ability.”
Captain Wagstaff congratulated the award recipients.
“The CFA service awards that were presented on the night is good recognition of continued service of those members with the CFA and their efforts with the brigade,” he said.
“It’s great to have awards like champion firefighter of the year and new recruit of the year and be able to give those out to brigade members.
“Those members are chosen by their peers in the brigade so it is quite a commendation to receive.”