General News
18 July, 2025
Record number of call outs for Maryborough Fire Brigade last financial year
The Maryborough Fire Brigade are operating under record breaking demand despite relying on the same “strained” volunteers, the brigade’s captain revealed.
In the brigade’s 164-year history, they have never been more needed turning out to a record-setting 165 incidents in 2024/25, according to a newly released report.
At their recent Annual General Meeting, Captain Darryl Wagstaff handed down his report for 2024/25 which detailed the brigade’s performance.
The majority of incidents are fires or explosions, followed by good intent calls, and false alarms.
However, the brigade is seeing more false alarms and false calls than they’ve ever seen before.
“That’s due to people reporting fires they don’t know much about because they’re a kilometre or more away which is a nuisance to us and other brigades,” Captain Wagstaff said.
It’s particularly felt when the brigade is struggling to find volunteers and are regularly seeing the same group of 15-odd people taking their turn on the truck — half of what he’d consider healthy numbers.
“It’s putting a lot of pressure on our members,” Captain Wagstaff said.
While less members are doing more calls Captain Wagstaff commended the volunteers for not missing a callout yet.
“It’s a credit to the volunteers to be able to take on the extra load we’ve received,” he said.
“I commend them very highly for being able to do what we do with the smaller number of members we do have.”
Although the brigade has 35 members, just shy of the membership cap of 40, Captain Wagstaff said around half regularly turnout.
The brigade’s members are also continuing to get older, pushing up the average age, and driving their need for younger volunteers.
“Hopefully that will help bolster our numbers,” he said.
The brigade are currently doing a recruiting drive and encourage anyone interested to get in touch — they currently have seven EOIs and two new members.
Similar to the need of volunteers, ageing equipment is a challenge across regional brigades.
Captain Wagstaff said his brigade’s fleet is adequate, supported by various repairs and modernisations over the last 12-months.
Their station of 45 years however, more than a quarter of the their total history, Captain Wagstaff said has reached the end of its life.
“We’d certainly like to have a new station built which is a long and hard process,” he said.
“But at the moment we’re ... fit for purpose ... but to make it easier and better we’d certainly enjoy a new station in the future,” he said.
Last year, Captain Wagstaff mentioned the proposed Maryborough Emergency Services Hub which would accommodate the local Ambulance Victoria, SES, and CFA.
“It’ll basically be three buildings for the three services, built on one location,” he said last year.
“I think it’ll allow us to interact with each other on a more regular basis, and we could potentially also have a common training area — it’ll be quite [efficient].”
However, over the last 12-months that concept seems to remain only in discussion.
“It is still on the cards, and there’s still a bit of work happening for that, but at the end of the day nothing has come to fruition,” Captain Wagstaff said.
Among the highs and lows of 2024/25 Captain Wagstaff thanked the community, the brigade’s members and their families and employers for their ongoing support.
“For us to operate in our community as we do, community support is paramount,” he said.
“I can’t commend the support from local residents highly enough to the brigade.”