80 years of fire service

Eighty years of fighting fires and keeping the community safe were celebrated by past and present Darnum Ellinbank CFA members last weekend.
Marking the 80th anniversary, Darnum Ellinbank volunteer and former CFA Region Nine regional officer Geoff Conway spoke of the value of volunteerism in the CFA - community members who dedicated their time and effort without payment to make their communities worth living in.
He said many had given their life to serving as firefighters, like Darnum Ellinbank's Russell Gaul who had been a volunteer for 54 years.
"If you are going to live in a community, particularly a regional community, and it's going to be a wonderful place to live, then you have to make it that way.

"Individuals and groups have worked tirelessly with a tremendous sense of rewards because being a volunteer firefighter gives a sense of making a place worth living in and creates a community that is effective and safe," Mr Conway said.

Long-time Darnum Ellinbank CFA volunteer Ron Paynter presented a snapshot of the past 80 years since the brigade's formation in 1946.
Almost one year after the formation of CFA, about 40 people gathered at the Ellinbank Hall in April 1946 to discuss establishing a brigade for Darnum Ellinbank.
It was unanimously agreed to form the unit. Men and boys over the age of 14 were invited to register.
The first meeting elected Stuart Gaul as captain and William Gaul as president. Once sufficient registrations were received, four lieutenants also were elected.
One hundred registrations were required to establish the brigade - the youngest were Alan Broadbent and David Alexander (both 14) and the oldest was John Brown aged 79.
Mr Paynter listed the equipment allocated to the first brigade: four pairs of wire cutters, one 12-foot extension ladder, four first aid kits, 36 leather beaters, six slashers, nine rakes, six water bags, six shovels, three axes, one semi rotary pump, one 30-foot delivery hose, one 20-foot suction hose, 12 knapsacks, one crosscut saw, six tussock burners and six fern hooks.
Over the years the brigade has had three Austin tankers, two Isuzus, one Hino 4x4 and one Nissan Patrol ultralight. The first pagers were purchased in 1999.
Initially equipment was stored at members' homes and meetings held at Ellinbank and Darnum halls.
The first station was a garage built on land donated by George Abel in Community Place, Ellinbank in 1956.
In 1987 the brigade moved to a new station on Hazeldean Rd on land donated by John Cropley, with the official opening held in 1988.
There was a final move to the current station in Darnum-Allambee Rd in 2014 where the station was built on the former Cloverlea Tennis Courts.
During its 80-year history, the brigade has been led by just eight captains including Stuart Gaul, Allan Gaul, Ted Reeves, Rodney Abel, Kevin Tyrrell, Colin Ross, Darren McDonald and current captain John Camm. Ted Reeves was the longest serving captain of 26 years, followed by Kevin Tyrrell for 23 years.
Mr Paynter said in 1996 the brigade responded to 36 incidents over a two-year period. There have been 41 callouts to date this year.
While escaped burn-offs, machinery fires and tree fires were regular callouts for the rural brigade, Mr Paynter said some of the not-so-routine callouts had included a baby locked in a car, a girl trapped up a tree, a person trapped in a couch and a horse trapped in a river.
In recent years, some of the bigger callouts had included a hay shed fire that burned for several days, a fire in the HPV Plantation in 2018, an aircraft crash in 2022 and out of area support to Bunyip Ridge fires.
Mr Paynter acknowledged the dedicated group of non-operational members who kept the brigade going with administration support.
He said the brigade was lucky to be maintaining member numbers and over the years had welcomed many new members with varied skills and experiences as well as young members bringing youth to the brigade.
"Darnum Ellinbank has continued to be an active brigade and asset to our community and we look forward for the next decade of serving Victorians," he said.