Saturday Night saw the celebrating of that milestone at the Hoppers Crossing Club, with members and their families coming together to celebrate their brigade with dinner, slideshows, and awards.
A brief history lesson about the brigade: The brigade was formed as the Truganina and District Fire Brigade in 1940. In 1946, it became the Truganina Fire Brigade. And it has had plenty of places to call home. The brigade initially had a shed in
Truganina is a Rural Brigade, specializing in Staging Area Management, with the Mount Cottrell Group FOV being housed there. They run 2 Tankers, as well as a Forward Control Vehicle to assist in crew transport, operational support, and a vehicle to get the Junior Brigade around in. But that’s not to say they only fight the common old grassie. Their area consists of 9000 homes, 11 schools, Industrial Precincts, grass and bushland. Quite a number of their calls are to support Hoppers Crossing Brigade, their area being predominantly structural. They also go to the odd “animal rescue” too! Some in the brigade have a fine art in rescuing dogs from holes.
It was a special night on Saturday night, not just because the brigade was celebrating a milestone, but because it was a night to honour those that have put in so much into their brigade, and to CFA as a whole. Service awards of 5, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 40 years were handed out, as well as the coveted National Medal, in which three deserving members received. Even the members of the Junior Fire Brigade received their service awards from the Hon. Julia Gillard MP, Deputy Prime Minister, which I think was quite a surprise for them.
Other people of note who attended the night were Member for Tarneit, Tim Pallas MP, CFA Board Member Ms Tunde Meikle, and Geoff McGill, Operations Officer for OMNW Region 14. From the City of
The brigade were also fortunate enough to have a guest speaker, Ms Anne Hooker, Youth Development Officer from G4S Australia, the company behind security for the Port Phillip Prison, located in Truganina’s Area. Just as the presentation was to start…beep beep beep beep beep….the pagers sound to none other then…Port Phillip Prison. Another False Alarm, but when the pager goes off, they go regardless if they thing it’s a ‘Falsie’ or a ‘Goer’. Off some of the brigade went to attend the call, while other sat in amazement at how prisoners are treated behind those grey walls. She gave an insight into the internal working of the prison, and her role as mentor to the younger inmates, imparting her wisdom in counseling, hoping to never see them “on the inside” again.
The following members received their Service Awards presented by Captain Colin Squires, and Ops. Officer Geoff McGill.
5 Years
Leigh Tomlinson
Tim Iserman
Michael Iserman
15 Years
Peter Squires
Ashley Grey
20 Years
Bob Bradley
25 Years
Gerard Green
30 Years
Kaspars Bitans
40 Years
Trevor Davis
The night culminated in three National Medals being awarded by CFA Board Member Tunde Meikle, and Ops. Officer Geoff McGill, to;
- Ken Galloway
- Robert Bradley
- Trevor Davis
A big thankyou went out to the organisers of the night, especially the members who put together a fantastic slideshow of the history of the brigade, playing through the night. It certainly brought back memories for quite a few members, as well as showing the younger members how it was done in the ‘good ol’ days.’ The Hoppers Crossing Club also put on a magnificent meal for everyone, with a lot of positive comments coming about when the night ended.
Just think Truganina Fire Brigade…30 more years and you’ll be 100. We hope to see some of the younger members receive their 30+ years awards then.
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