“We’re travelling great. We’ve been pretty busy the last few years – I’m just winding down now and actually enjoying being part of CFA. It takes a good few years to get over big fires like that,” said Captain Todd Birkbeck.
“Everyone thinks about it on the anniversary – we run our CFA flag at half mast. The Delburn Complex fires were tragic and absolutely amazing at the same time. It was like nothing we’d ever seen before.
“This fire was different to many fires that happened a week later on Black Saturday – where all the resources were spread across a wide area. We had nearly every resource in
“The Delburn fire was my first incident as a captain, and my wife’s first turnout. We didn’t stop for a good eight weeks; we were both initiated well and truly. It was a good learning curve, there’s no better way of learning something than just being thrown into it.
“Thirty houses were lost in the Delburn/Boolarra area including sheds and livestock. Everyone in the community was just so glad to have survived. Black Saturday hit a week later – there was almost a relief that our fire had already happened. It could have been a totally different story.
“Our brigade is just part of a huge Morwell group, which includes both volunteers and paid officers. While we may not have had a great working relationship with career firefighters in the past, we really have become one huge team over the last four years.
“The whole Morwell group was heavily affected by the Delburn fires. We’d been working non-stop for a good week, and Churchill brigade came over and took over for 24 hours so we could rest.
“The day before Churchill went up they gave us a call saying that the fire was going to be bad for them. We sent two tankers with full crews over to them and they managed to save two homes.
“One of our tankers actually got a burnover – they went through a bit of hell. We all waited at the station for those tankers to get home. We didn’t want them to turn up to an empty shed. We waited until 9pm for them to get back.
“It was a small gesture but it was a turning point for the brigade. They came back to see us all there and realised that everyone had taken the time to hang around and make sure they were OK. It was a really good thing.
“After the fires our brigade did a lot of fundraising and we now have a new station that’s finally up and running. What we’ve gained since has been positive – new equipment. It made the community aware of how important their local fire brigade is.
“After the fires we probably gained around 13 or 14 members but a lot of them were younger ones, who have since gone on to university or moved away to take up apprenticeships. We have around 30-odd active members and six to seven non-active members. It’s not too bad.
“The station is a totally different setup now – it’s over double the size of what we had. It used to have a standard two-bay shed, with the kitchen doubling as the meeting room, but we’ve basically redone the whole station. It’s split into two sheds now – with the appliances in their own shed and the toilet, kitchen and meeting room in the other.
“Communications were an issue during the fires as we’re so far away from other towns, so we’ve got a communications room now in the middle section. This means that we can now set up an incident control point from here.
“We’ll be getting a new satellite station built in Boolarra South area, which will double our tanker response area. We’ve now got two tankers ready to go across our response area and it still gives the Boolarra South community ownership of the tanker.
“We’ve got a really good relationship with DSE, Parks Victoria and HVP. We’re all striving for the same thing – we all have to work together on the fireground. We help them with their fuel reduction burns and let them use our facilities when they’re over this way.
“I find CFA a great organisation to be part of – really because of the relationship we have with our upper management and local volunteers in the area. We don’t have any politics to deal with.
“The Morwell group is a great group; we work closely with each other and look after each other. Every few months we do a group round robin training session and take it in turns to host a scenario or training topic we want to work on. Every brigade gets a go.”
Operations Officer
“Todd is a fantastic captain, the whole brigade is great. I can’t speak more highly of them. They’re always looking to improve things and better themselves – they focus on looking forward and there’s a strong focus on training skills.
“The Delburn Complex fires just made them stronger – their hearts are in the right place. It’s all about the community for them and they’re always out promoting the brigade. They recently ran a motorbike relay fundraiser at the Boolarra township and it was a success.
“They don’t get a huge number of calls but they get some interesting ones. It really is a pleasure to work with the Morwell group – they’re a great bunch of people.
“The whole group is the same. They’re very proactive in what they do – improving themselves for the future. Group Officer Steve Barling (also the Churchill Captain) shows fantastic leadership, and Deputy Group Officer Dave O’Brien (also Lieutenant at Boolarra) does an outstanding job in making sure they get all the assistance they need.”
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