THE Bridgetown Fire and Rescue Brigade threw a party on Saturday afternoon to celebrate the 60th anniversary of their fire station on its current site.
“While the station has been going since 1954, the Brigade has been going a little bit longer, so we decided to give our station a birthday party to recognise 60 years of service and open it up to the public,” spokesman for the brigade Steve Twigg said.
“We wanted to give a little bit back to the community we live in and share our celebration with them.
“We currently have about 25 people active on our crew here, plus we have some support Brigade members as well, there are probably six of them.
"All of our people are volunteers, and we get involved with the High School Mystery Tour of Life and other demonstrations, as well as our active duties and constant training.
“Life with the Brigade can get quite busy, some weeks we can get up to four call outs for various reasons, but overall it averages out to about two call outs per week,” he said.
“We always get a run of chimney fires at the start of winter, and the first time the roads get wet we have to attend a number of accidents. Then there are the bush fires in summer, then later this month we will be down at the Bridgetown Primary School showing the kids the red trucks and telling them about fires.
“We did a demonstration today as part of the celebration, showing how we take a vehicle to pieces after an accident.
“Being with the Brigade is a great activity, there are often social activities mixed up with the normal training program, and we always make new members very welcome,” Mr Twigg said.
The open day was followed by an evening dinner and awards presentation, which was attended by current and past members with their partners, Robyn McSweeney MLC, DFES Acting Commissioner Lloyd Bailey, DFES Lower South West Superintendent John Tillman, DFES District Officer Phil Brandrett, DFES Area Officer Peter Thomas, Shire of Bridgetown Greenbushes President Tony Practico and Volunteer Fire and Rescue Services Association Executive Officer Max Osborn.
VFRS Long Service Awards were presented on the night to Doreen Hornby - VFRS Long Service Award for 30 years, Paddy Woodall - VFRS Long Service Award for 40 years, Greg Rees - VFRS Long Service Award for 35 years, Wally Hornby - VFRS Long Service Award for 30 years and Geoff Fisher VFRS Long Service Award for 55 years service to the community.
