Communications assistant Gabriel Zito performing a 'hose-bowl'
My university friends and I used to hang out in the Adelaide Hills on our weekend nights. They were all volunteer firefighters in the South Australian Country Fire Service, and all they would talk about were specifications on each of their fire trucks (as they were all from different brigades). For a while I blocked out the conversation when it would come up. Eventually I listened, and this was what sparked my passion to join as a volunteer firefighter.
Fast forward to 2019 and I have continued my volunteering with the Country Fire Authority in Victoria, and I spread fun facts about firefightingto my CRC colleagues. The CRC holds strong values in knowledge sharing, and I have learnt that a passion of mine is to share the experiences of firefighting with my colleagues, to assist them in the understanding of what it really is like on the fire line.
As a part of the CRC’s strategic planning work in Lancefieldrecently, I organised a station and equipment tour through CFA District two’s Brigade Administration Support Officer, Sarah and with the assistance of the Asset Manager from the Lancefield CFA Brigade, Henry.
Lancefield CFA asset manager Henry explaining equipment to Matthew Hayne and Desiree Beekharry
The tour involved taking the CRC team through Lancefield’s Tanker and Pumper Tanker. Activities includedlookingthrough each locker to see the equipment that is carried on the trucks; demonstrating how firefighters can fight active fire on the ground or from the back deck of the truck; and a bowling hose competition.
We tried to cram in as much information in 60 minutes you could imagine, including wildfire PPE vs structure PPE, and cascading responses involving strike teams. The highlight was sitting in the cabin with a few of my colleagues and teaching them about what a burn over is, what firefighters do when we find ourselves in a burnover and why it is crucial to retain 20% of your water in the tank for those reasons.
To put it simply, I was a kid in a candy store, and to be able to show my work colleagues a part of my life I am passionate about with the assistance of other volunteer firefighters was a dream come true.
Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC staff at the Lancefield CFA station. From left to right: Matthew Hayne, Amy Mulder, Nathan Maddock, Kelsey Tarabini, Desiree Beekharry, Greg Christopher, David Boxshall and Gabriel Zito