By KATH GANNAWAY
BADGER Creek Fire Brigade has been an integral part of the local community for the past 75 years.
In 1939 the bush fire brigade occupied the supper room next to the Badger Creek Progress Hall on its original location on the corner of Glen Eadie Avenue and Badger Creek Road.
As the brigade celebrates the dedication of the hundreds of local men and women who have served the community since its formation after the devastating 1939 fires, the brigade history “From the Ashes” written in 1989 has been updated.
“From the Ashes – The New Millennium” covers that last quarter century and includes the brigade’s role in the Black Saturday fires of 2009.
The brigade started from humble beginnings. In 1939 equipment consisted of rakes and beaters and a small Dodge truck was used to carry men and equipment to the fire.
A Royal Commission into the 1939 fires recommended the formation of the Country Fire Authority.
“In 1944 the Commonwealth Government ‘loaned’ 200 army vehicles and other army surplus firefighting equipment and Nissen huts to the Country Fire Authority and in 1945 the bush fire brigades came under the administration of the CFA,” brigade secretary Peter Broman said.
Badger Creek received one of these trucks, but had no proper fire station.
Mr Broman said it was not until 1954 that the CFA, with brigade help, constructed a Nissen hut next to the hall to house the brigade tanker and equipment. It was home to the brigade until 1977 when a new station was built at 360 Badger Creek Road.
The station was too small from the start and was extended by brigade members in the same year to include a meeting room. By the new millennium, Mr Broman said, it was totally inadequate.
Mr Broman with the support of the brigade captain at the time, Nic Rodway, started lobbying the CFA in earnest for a new station.
“Despite all our efforts and frustrations no progress was made until the State Labour Government scheduled a Cabinet meeting in Healesville in 2007 to which the public were invited,” he recalled.
That more direct lobbying was successful and in 2008 the new Badger Creek fire station was built. A new chapter in an ongoing history.
The updated book can be purchased for $5 from the brigade, which is open on Sunday mornings.
