Over 100 years volunteering

By Lachlan Ellis

A local father and son have notched up over a century of service between them with the CFA, not to mention stints with Ambulance Victoria and local community groups.

Ian Dehnert joined the Ballan Fire Brigade back in 1956 – the same year television was introduced in Australia – while his son Paul joined up in 1979.

When asked why he and his dad joined up, Paul Dehnert said it was simply “what you did back then”.

“You go back when I joined and Dad was in it, every farmer around the district was in the Fire Brigade. I started off as a kid, probably 10 years old, burning off…getting on old Tommy Mullane’s trailer, and sneak along putting out any tussocks or anything burning,” Mr Dehnert told the Moorabool News.

“We burnt lots of roadsides then, because there wasn’t much traffic and you didn’t slash roadsides back then, you burnt them. Dad would go to the Fire Station to do things, and I’d go with him. It was a natural progression to join the Fire Brigade I suppose.”

There are many moments from his time at the Ballan Fire Station that Mr Dehnert recalls vividly, from Ash Wednesday to Black Saturday, and even a plane crash.

He says people often ask him why he volunteers to attend such harrowing scenes.

“My attitude is, it could be my wife, my daughter, my father, in a car accident. You want someone there as quick as they can be to help them. That’s what it’s all about,” he said.

“It’s just community, isn’t it? You’re here to help the community, that’s what you join the Fire Brigade for. When you go back in the day of the farmers, a lot of it was about property protection. Dad’s always been involved in the community, he was on the Hall Committee, he was on the Church Committee, so he was in a lot of committees around town.”

Both Ian and Paul Dehnert are Life Members at the Ballan Fire Station, which Paul says is “the biggest thrill I’ve ever got”.

“It makes it a bit more significant, Dad also being a Life Member of the Brigade. It’s probably something that’s fairly unique,” he said.