THE Korumburra Fire Brigade celebrated 125 years on Sunday. The milestone event was attended by the community, members of the Korumburra Fire Brigade and surrounding CFA and SES units, and honoured guests including CFA board member Tony Peake, deputy chief officer Trevor Owen, assistant chief fire officer Ben McKie, South Gippsland Shire Council deputy mayor Cr Nathan Hersey,
Gippsland South MLA Danny O’Brien and Eastern Victoria MLC Melina Bath.
Longwarry and District Fire Brigade’s catering crew provided lunches for around 100 people, before formalities, including a speech from former captain and life member Bill Rodda, who touched on Korumburra Fire Brigade’s rich history and the significant fires fought through the years.
Cr Hersey congratulated the brigade on the important milestone. “Our community is run by volunteers in a lot of ways. We have the highest level of volunteering in Gippsland and much higher than average for the state, being just over 23 per cent of community volunteering,” he said. “It’s because of those people that the CFA and SES are as strong as they are. Thank you to the community and congratulations.”
Current captain Shane Maskell touched on where the fire brigade is headed.
“We’ve spoken about buildings, vehicles and equipment. It’s great to have all that stuff, but it’s the people who make the CFA what is it. The CFA have a lot of great people and we are lucky at Korumburra to have the pick of that crop. We’ve got the best CFA family here in Koruburra, I believe,” Capt. Maskell said.
“We’re very, very proud, we consistently go above and beyond – whether that be attending very complex, difficult and confronting scenes, or servicing extinguishers, or going out on strike teams all over the state and country – it all happens here in Korumburra, 24/7, often at the expense of family and work commitments. There’s no doubt we have our challenges – and we will continue to have challenges in the future – but with the ongoing support of our community, we will continue to protect and help this community through fire and other emergencies for the next 125 years.”
