Brigade celebrates years of service

A BELATED ceremony took place over the weekend where members of the Heathcote Fire Brigade were presented with accolades for their years of commitment.

The morning tea event took place on Sunday at the Heathcote Fire Station, with five members receiving life memberships and 16 members presented with long service awards.

Brigade secretary Laraine Leask said the presentation was rewarding and long overdue.

“We haven’t done this for three years so there was a bit of a backlog of awards to be presented,” she said.

“Normally, I make sure we have this every year but we couldn’t due to COVID. This year’s culminated in 400 years of service with everyone included.”

Members, Carl Watkins, Graeme Reid, Carol Watkins, Fred Miller and Ms Leask were the life membership recipients.

The long service awards ranged from five years of service to 65 years, with the latter medal delivered to recipient Harry Baptist’s home following the presentation.

Andrew Dickson from Fire Rescue Victoria presented the medals.

Ms Leask said it’s important to acknowledge their members’ dedication.

“They’ve put in a lot of sacrifice over the years, and a lot of our members have gone on strike teams where they could be away for a week at a time,” she said.

“As volunteers, you don’t think about whether it’s going to interfere with your having lunch or anything like that.

“We’ve had Black Saturday, we’ve had Kilmore. These guys don’t even think about it. They just go.

“There’s just not enough medals for them. They’re truly isn’t.”

The Heathcote Fire Brigade has 41 registered members.