Brigade appoints new captain

ONE of the Shire’s fire brigades is set for a change in leadership.

Following Teesdale CFA’s bi-annual election in May, Fifth Lieutenant Barry Tomlin will take over from Captain Rob Galtry, who has served in the role for 15 years.

Fifth Lieutenant Tomlin’s captaincy will come into effect from July, and he said he looks forward to taking on the responsibility.

“It’s a real privilege to be elected. It’s exciting and it certainly wasn’t on my radar,” he said.

“But the continuation of the good work that we all do as a brigade is essential. No individual stands out and I think that’s what we do well.”

“I look forward to stepping up and building on Rob’s foundation.”

Eighteen of Teesdale CFA’s 24 members are operational firefighters, and Captain Galtry will be swapping roles and taking on Fifth Lieutenant responsibilities.

In his over-20-years of firefighting, Fifth Lieutenant Tomlin has served the Teesdale brigade since 2006, and has been a CFA deputy group officer for seven Golden Plains localities since 2014.

His firefighting experiences including serving as strike team leader during the Black Summer bushfires in Mallacoota.

In 2009, he received a National Emergency Medal with for his efforts during Black Saturday.

With Fifth Lieutenant Tomlin’s additional experiences as a training coordinator for Geelong’s Viva Refinery, Captain Galtry said he has the qualities to take the brigade into a new era.

“You’ve got to be thinking ahead all the time and Barry’s very good at that. He’s very calm, has a well-ordered thought process and experience in training and leadership,” he said.

“He’ll do a good job but that won’t mean it won’t be challenging. Teesdale is going to grow and change and it’ll be up to Barry to help lead us through that transition.”