By Callum Ludwig
The Wesburn/Millgrove CFA took a moment to reflect on Ash Wednesday with a service on the night of Thursday 16 February, exactly 40 years on.
Brigade Chair and former River Valley Chruch pastor Andrew Bennett delivered a shorts service by the flagpoles at the front of the station.
Mr Bennett said it was just a short and simple service to honour those who fought the fires.
“It was our first Ash Wednesday memorial, and we were very aware of the big memorial in Cockatoo but our main aim was just not to forget what happened that day,” he said.
“When we pause and remember, it’s a reminder about complacency, a reminder of all the key messages we know about fires now and of course a reminder of the people who died fighting those fires.”
A small crowd of brigade members from Wesburn/Millgrove and Warburton, members of the Millgrove Residents Action Group and other community members gathered for the 8.30pm service.
Mr Bennett said we need reminders all the time, particularly in a modern world that is more connected than ever before.
“In rural communities or any community that was affected by fire, I think it’s really important that we remember so complacency doesn’t seep in and stopping and remembering the traumatic stuff that happened helps make us better people,” he said.
“My colleagues and I at the fire brigade are continually dumbfounded by the number of people who have no plan for a big event or who say it’s never as bad as we make it out to be but one day it’s going to happen because it’s happened before and it will happen again.”
Paul and Maxine Burke were Wesburn/Millgrove brigade members at the time and shared their experience of fighting the fire.
Wesburn/Millgrove Captain Sascha Grant said everybody was really touched by the service.
“People were getting a perspective of Ash Wednesday that they perhaps hadn’t seen themselves, because everybody who lived through Ash Wednesday had an individual and unique perspective of it,” he said.
“Andrew Bennett did an amazing job as he reflected on the loss of life, loss of property and the loss of land that we experienced, and Paul told us about how he essentially spent 10 days on the back of the fire truck looking after the community while Maxine ran the radios and looked after the station.”
