At the Royal Humane Society award ceremony today, volunteer firefighters from Greenvale, Craigieburn, Epping, Point Cook, Reefton and Nar Nar Goon CFA were presented with Certificates of Merit for acts of bravery during the February 2009 bushfires and also a flood rescue in February last year.
Cambarville rescue – February 2009 fires
This involved the rescue of an elderly lady whose Cambarville home had become surrounded by fire, performed by Danny Bennett, Ross Minifie, Paul McCuskey, Andrew McDonald, Kathleen Tilley and Rachel Bennett.
Reefton Captain Danny Bennett said while all crew members were grateful for the nomination, they were particularly proud of one of their younger members, Rachel Bennett, who was only 17 years of age when she was involved in the rescue.
“Rachel is actually my daughter but it is a real feather in the cap for her because this was actually her first trip out on a fire truck,” Mr Bennett said.
Now 20, Ms Bennett still remains with Reefton CFA and has vivid memories of the fires.
“We were expecting it to be a bad day, so we were prepared in some way but no-one really could have been prepared enough for what happened that day,” she said.
“I remember we were all feeling really frustrated because we were hearing what was happening in Kilmore and Murrindindi and we could hear Mayday calls coming out from neighbouring brigades but there was nothing we could do.”
Just after calling it a day around midnight, the Reefton crew was paged out to assist a resident trapped in her home.
“It wasn’t until then that we’d really seen all of the destruction, it was quite horrific,” Ms Bennett said.
“But it was such a relief to be able to successfully rescue this resident, it finally felt like we were able to contribute in some way.”
Although the Reefton crew had managed to pull the woman out of her home, it was the trip back to safety that was perhaps the most dangerous.
“I don’t think it was until then the resident even realised the full gravity of the situation – there were burning trees everywhere, and trees all across the roads.”
“But everyone did a great job – even though I was only 17 and out on my first job, they treated me as part of the crew and thankfully, we were all able to help save someone’s life.
For more details about the awards and other recipients, go to http://www.rhsa.org.au/
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