By Callum Ludwig
The Yellingbo Fire Brigade was finally able to host its first Awards Night in three years to recognise the longtime service of its members.
The brigade gathered for dinner at the Home Hotel on Wednesday 15 February, with awards recognising milestones from five years all the way up to 60.
Yellingbo CFA Captain Jeremy Hardy said it was obviously really appreciated the members were still able to be committed and help out where they can over the last few years.
“It was harder for us in that we were restricted in what we could do, but certainly it was still important for us to be there for the community in their time of need and turn out vehicles for emergency situations,” he said.
“It’s good for newer members as well to see that there are members here that have been around for many, many years, have a lot of experience and have seen changes to the CFA over the years. It gives stability to the brigade and the community.”
The following brigade members received awards:
5 Year Recipients: Brad Gonzales, Angela Cox, James Duncan, Kaylene Hopper, Jenny Zander, Hilary Doulton and Mitchal Buchanan.
10 Year Recipients: Jeremy Hardy, Lindsay McKenzie, Jo Hardy and Fiona Pettigrew.
15 Year Recipients: Anthony Straub and Adam Gierlicz
20 Year Recipients: John Clark and Peter Langridge
25 Year Recipient: Greg Hopper
30 Year Recipients and CFA Life Membership: Paul Spinks and Cliff Williams
45 Year Recipient: Gary Nixon
60 Year Recipient: Bruce Logan
Mr Logan said he was one of the founding members of the brigade.
“We used to meet under a tree, only about half a dozen of us with a knapsack each. It grew from there to have a trailer unit which was pulled by someone with a tractor or heavy vehicle and then to a Willys four-wheel-drive. Eventually, we pushed for a tin shed from the CFA and it was put up by our own members,” he said.
“I’m the longest-serving active CFA member now but the members we have now at Yellingbo Fire Brigade are very keen. I’ve enjoyed it, it’s something very important to do for the community, to protect the community’s lives and homes.”
During Mr Logan’s time, he even took the Willy’s four-wheel-drive to Parliament House to meet the Governor of Victoria.
Mr Logan said his strongest memories of volunteering with the brigade were in helping fight fires at Cann River in 1983 and locally on Ash Wednesday the same year.
“The fire down there at Cann River was a massive backburn, the Forestry Commission had bulldozers and were clearing the line, the army we’re using flamethrowers to light the backburn and it was the CFA’s job to maintain it and make sure it didn’t burn back over,” he said.
“Ash Wednesday was the biggest one, I had about 100 men under me, but never lost a fireman. Eventually, we couldn’t do much with it because it was so big, so we went out to Kurth Kiln [Regional Park] and stopped it there when the wind slowed down.”
