By HELEN COLLIER
DON Bigham is Deputy Group Officer of the CFA’s Yarra Valley Group.
As he puts it, he’s fairly new to this game, having only been in the CFA for 54 years!
At 70 years of age, there’s no sign of him slowing down.
He is not only involved in the management of Yarra Valley Group, he’s an active firefighter and self-employed farmer.
Don has always lived in Gruyere. It was a small farming community back when he was a child, and the majority of the community were members of the fire brigade.
“In all honesty they had to be,” Don explained. “They were farming folk with properties to defend, living in a fire-prone area.”
Training took place in real fire situations, back when there were no fire trucks, just trailers carrying water that they towed with their own vehicles.
Don’s father was a founding member of the Gruyere brigade and both his brothers and mother were active members.
He recalls finally being allowed to attend his first fire (at an alarmingly tender age), where he was instructed to hold the horses, a pair of Clydesdales that dragged a 44-gallon drum on a sled to the flames.
The drum would have been hand-filled by bucket at the local dam, and brought to the fire front so that hessian bags could be dipped in the water drum and used to beat the flames.
No pumps or hoses, protective gear or breathing apparatus – just determined local volunteers at the fire front, beating back the flames.
While Don has witnessed incredible technological advancements in firefighting in his 54 years as a volunteer firefighter, the essence of the CFA remains the same, to help others in their time of need.
And when that strike team arrives at an incident, it works as a team, regardless of age, experience, rank or personality types.
Of his fellow brigade members, Don says: “You know you can totally rely on these people and collectively you know you are making a difference.”
When asked why more people aren’t CFA volunteers, Don puts it down to the ‘perceived commitment’.
‘I don’t have the time’ and ‘I’m not cut out for fire fighting’ are two of the most common response he hears when he speaks to people about joining the brigade.
“The truth of it is every member of the CFA contributes what they can, when they can; no-one commits to it 24/7,” he says.
“We all have jobs, families, lives to live, and we all have different skills we can offer.
“Someone once said to me ‘I’m happy to join up as long as I don’t have to attend a car crash’, to which I replied ‘can you operate a stop/go sign?’
“They said ‘of course’ and I explained that by operating the sign, they were freeing up another member who could be tending the scene of the crash.
“We all have a role to play; it’s just a case of matching up what skills you have, with what the brigade needs.”
National Volunteer week from 11 to 17 May is a good time to think about involvement in the CFA.
For information visit the CFA website cfa.vic.gov.au to find the nearest brigade.
District 13 covers the Yarra Valley, Dandenong Ranges, Knox and Maroondah.
