{"id":96890,"date":"2024-05-18T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/?p=96890"},"modified":"2024-05-15T18:46:50","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T08:46:50","slug":"volunteer-firefighter-loves-the-variety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/volunteer-firefighter-loves-the-variety\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteer firefighter loves the variety"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TORQUAY resident Michelle Abro is relishing her time as a volunteer firefighter, saying the ethos of preserving life and helping people was the same as her full-time work.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Abro, who completed general firefighting training in November, has worked in insurance for more than 25 years, always as part of the claims process.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For me, the idea of being able to volunteer in an organisation that&#8217;s really about protecting life and property is quite aligned to the sort of work I&#8217;d do in my day job,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s about helping people recover from floods, and fires, and suffering from weather events.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ms Abro, who has lived in Torquay for more than two years, has gone straight into action, with her first callout on the first day of January this year to a car crash on the Surf Coast Highway, and last month&#8217;s fire in Gilbert Street her first attendance at a structure fire.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/05\/IMG_5740_19516.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Volunteer firefighter Michelle Abro during a planned burn this week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>She was also part of a strike team to the Beaufort bushfire in February, and has taken part in two planned burns, including one in Wingeel this week.<\/p>\n<p>She encouraged anyone interested in being a volunteer firefighter to sign up and not let their preconceptions get in the way.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Most people maybe have an expectation that you have to be of a certain fitness level, be available five days a week at these times&#8230; it&#8217;s not like that,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;With the CFA, you choose how much you contribute and you manage your capacity and the availability you offer around the other priorities in your life.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s more than enough jobs to be done and ways to get involved through lots of different parts, not just by running into a burning building.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/05\/IMG_7884_54877.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ms Abro says there are many roles that volunteer firefighters can play in the CFA. INSET: Michelle Abro hard at work on the fireground. Photos: SUPPLIED<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;Lack of experience or anything like that is not a barrier; I&#8217;ve worked in an office all of my life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of National Volunteer Week (Monday, May 20-May 26), the CFA is thanking and celebrating its 52,000 volunteers for their ongoing dedication in protecting Victorian communities.<\/p>\n<p>CFA Acting Chief Officer Garry Cook said it was extremely encouraging to see so many Victorians sign up to be a volunteer during 2023&#8217;s &#8220;Give Us A Hand&#8221; campaign and be part of something bigger in their local community.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;CFA recruited 1,844 new members since the campaign launched in August last year and we continue to grow.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Across Victoria brigades have recruited members and continue to, but there are some areas still in need.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If you are interested in joining CFA or learning more about volunteering, head to cfa.vic.gov.au\/volunteer<\/p>\n<p>Once you have submitted your expression of interest online, your local brigade will contact you regarding the next steps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TORQUAY resident Michelle Abro is relishing her time as a volunteer firefighter, saying the ethos of preserving life and helping people was the same as her full-time work. Ms Abro, who completed general firefighting training in November, has worked in insurance for more than 25 years, always as part of the claims process. &#8220;For me, [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/volunteer-firefighter-loves-the-variety\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":96891,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-96890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Volunteer firefighter loves the variety - Geelong Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Torquay&#039;s Michelle Abro loves being a volunteer firefighter! Insurance worker by day, lifesaver by night. Learn how YOU can join the CFA! #Torquay #CFA #VolunteerFirefighterpen_sparktunesharemore_vert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/volunteer-firefighter-loves-the-variety\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Volunteer firefighter loves the variety - Geelong Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Torquay&#039;s Michelle Abro loves being a volunteer firefighter! Insurance worker by day, lifesaver by night. Learn how YOU can join the CFA! #Torquay #CFA #VolunteerFirefighterpen_sparktunesharemore_vert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/volunteer-firefighter-loves-the-variety\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Geelong Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"jamespetertaylor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-17T18:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2024\/05\/Untitled-design-2024-05-15T140410.863.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@notthatjt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/volunteer-firefighter-loves-the-variety\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/volunteer-firefighter-loves-the-variety\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"James Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2655215c02475fb33ffa43a1c8fe2677\"},\"headline\":\"Volunteer firefighter loves the variety\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-17T18:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/volunteer-firefighter-loves-the-variety\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":502,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/volunteer-firefighter-loves-the-variety\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/21\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/Untitled-design-2024-05-15T140410.863.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/volunteer-firefighter-loves-the-variety\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/volunteer-firefighter-loves-the-variety\\\/\",\"name\":\"Volunteer firefighter loves the variety - Geelong Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/volunteer-firefighter-loves-the-variety\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/volunteer-firefighter-loves-the-variety\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/21\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/Untitled-design-2024-05-15T140410.863.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-17T18:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Torquay's Michelle Abro loves being a volunteer firefighter! 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