![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Untitled-design-16.png\")
Mr Cameron was captain of the Connewarre Brigade during the February 1983 Ash Wednesday bush fires, in which 14 CFA firefighters died.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo members of the crew were dispatched to Melton early in the morning \u2013 Melton was under threat from the fire that was in Gisborne. We worked all day all night \u2013 and we didn\u2019t know what was happening in the Otways,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also remembers the devastating 1977 fire between Ballarat, Streatham and Cressy, and more recently the 2009 Black Saturday fires.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou take the good days with the bad \u2013 and there are more good days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Cameron was officially awarded his medal on August 24, 2020, during the height of the pandemic, and Member for Western Victoria Bev McArthur visited the Freshwater Creek Brigade on Friday last week to personally congratulate him.<\/p>\n
Ms McArthur said the easing of COVID-19 restrictions mean last week was the first opportunity to publicly celebrate Mr Cameron\u2019s efforts, and that his story was one of extraordinary devotion.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor 72 years, Malcolm Cameron has been a giver. He has risked his life, saved property, saved others\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere could barely be another example of such commitment to one\u2019s community.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday we say thank you to a humble man, a generational contributor to what is Australia\u2019s greatest volunteer organisation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MORE than seven decades since he signed up to volunteer with the Country Fire Authority, 88-year-old Malcolm Cameron is still helping out. Mr Cameron was 16 when he first turned up to the Connewarre Fire Brigade, and in 2020, he marked his 70th year of volunteering with the CFA, including 14 years as brigade captain. […]<\/p>\n