MEMBERS of the Maiden Gully CFA recently celebrated a silver anniversary, marking twenty-five years protecting the community.<\/p>\n
Andrew Howlett is the current treasurer, and was Captain when the brigade launched in 1998 until 2011.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a pretty good fire station, we\u2019ve done a lot of it ourselves, done a lot of fundraising, and we\u2019re now well equipped,” he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenge is always with a growing community, you\u2019ve got to grow the infrastructure.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year we did 77 calls, and it will increase as the community grows.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are doing, within Maiden Gully, many significant grass fires. We\u2019ve had one or two over the last 12 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsually, we get our fair share of vehicle crashes. We\u2019ve got to help with extraction, when people have got stuck in, or clean up afterwards, get rid of spilt fuel.”<\/p>\n
Mr Howlett said other callouts are generally for house fires and ruptured gas mains with about half within Maiden Gully, while the rest elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did a number of calls supporting all the flood recovery in Rochester and Echuca where we had crews in there for quite a number of days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Along with the 25-year celebrations, some brigade members were presented with awards like the National Emergency Medal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re people who went away to various places, including Mallacoota, which was pretty tough work, and some went to NSW,\u201d Mr Howlett said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe National Medal represents years of diligent service. You\u2019ve got to be an operational firefighter, you\u2019ve got to put in a lot of effort, and generally, in our brigade, you\u2019ve had to have held an operational leadership role.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MEMBERS of the Maiden Gully CFA recently celebrated a silver anniversary, marking twenty-five years protecting the community. Andrew Howlett is the current treasurer, and was Captain when the brigade launched in 1998 until 2011. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a pretty good fire station, we\u2019ve done a lot of it ourselves, done a lot of fundraising, and we\u2019re […]<\/p>\n