Barwon Heads Fire Brigade celebrated 80 years serving the community at an anniversary dinner and awards night recently.
Established on 1 July 1936, the brigade was formed following a community meeting at the RSL Hall, led by Mr Kinder Archer. The first members were 15 firemen, including Captain Frank Ellis, Lieutenant Ernie Dickens, Foreman Clive Stephens and secretary Horace Stephens.
Captain Helen Wood recalled that in the early days the Barwon Heads Fire Brigade was a volunteer community bucket brigade consisting of a reel, cart and buckets, and fires were extinguished by those who arrived at the fires, literally using buckets of water.
“Water was unavailable and the fire brigade relied on house tank water until the late 1930s when pipes were built across the bridge,” she said.
“Since then, the brigade has grown and transformed in many ways, while the fundamentals have not changed – we are committed to serving our community, and attend many incidents each year, from motor vehicle accidents to house fires, to grass and scrub fires in Barwon Heads, the Bellarine and beyond.”
At the dinner, a number of formal medal and award presentations were made, including service medals, National Medals, CFA Life Memberships and the Barwon Heads Fire Brigade annual awards.
Full list of Award recipients:
CFA Service Medals:
Cameron Skurrie 5 year certificate; Nick Jahnecke 5 year certificate; Matthew Probert 10 year medal; Chris Kerr 20 year medal; Stephen Plunkett 20 year medal; Michael Cummins 25 year medal; Hank Egberts 30 year medal; Philip Pavey 30 year medal; Russell Kerr 45 year medal.
National Medals:
Phillip Humphrey National Medal; Matthew Probert National Medal; Hank Egberts National Medal/1 st clasp; Russell Kerr 2nd clasp; John Crozier.
CFA Life Membership:
John Crozier; Hank Egberts; Phillip Pavey; Edward (Eddie) Wilson.
Barwon Heads Fire Brigade annual awards
Pete Burnett – Shawn Wilson Encouragement Award; Matt Taylor – Firefighter of the Year Award; Pam Halnon – Captain’s Award
