New equipment for growing brigade

INVERLEIGH CFA has received eighteen-hundred dollars’ worth of equipment with funding received from Winchelsea Community Bank.

Brigade Captain Andrew Collins said it represents a new avenue of support for the local firefighters.

“It’s a nice little support, that they’re there. We don’t get given money. The Inverleigh community is growing and our support has to grow too,” he said.

“It’s gone towards electronic flares that we put out for road crashes at night time. We have a car entry kit for when children get locked in cars, which has happened a few times, we can gain entry without breaking windows.

“We’ve got our new hydrant and a big rescue hook for structural fires, pulling down plaster and roofs and a Haligan tool for forcible entry.”

It’s the first-time the Winchelsea Community Bank has supported the Inverleigh brigade, with fundraising efforts generally focused on sausage sizzles at community events.

With their station established in 1999, Captain Collins said the equipment signals the continued expansion of the local firefighting service to accommodate Inverleigh’s growing population.

“The brigade has to grow with the community, so we’ve got a five-year plan to relocate this station to somewhere like the town’s sporting precinct,” he said.

“The plan is of course to make it bigger and safer for the community but also to give our volunteers somewhere to really be able to sit and chat and have the place feel almost like a home.

“Our heavy tanker will reach its end of life around the same time so that’ll be another $650,000 for us to raise for that.

“There are brigades down the coast that just get money given to them. We don’t have that so we’ve got to earn it.”