Firefighters light up

By Paul Pickering
IN RECOGNITION of 80 years of community service, the Upper Ferntree Gully Fire Brigade has been asked to lead Saturday night’s torchlight parade as part of the Knox Festival.
Established in 1873, the bi-annual torchlight parade has become a fire-fighting institution.
In a display that is sure to ignite evening festivities, brigade captain Garry Lee and his crew of CFA volunteers will march proudly into the festival site carrying kerosene-lit torches.
“It will be an honour for us to lead the parade for our 80th year,” Mr Lee said.
The Upper Fern Tree Gully Bush Fire Brigade, as it was then called, was formed as a result of the infamous fire season of 1925-6 which claimed more than 50 lives across the state.
The brigade’s first fire engine was a single-seated car cut down and modified into a trade truck.
The warning bell that adorned its bonnet was taken from an old tram.
The truck carried six knapsacks, six rake hoes and one hose reel.
In contrast, Mr Lee’s crew responded to last Friday’s Sassafras fires in a state-of-the-art $280,000 vehicle.
While the equipment and procedures of fire-fighting have evolved, the traditions of the torchlight parade have been upheld.
Mr Lee said the event is as much a social event as a form of community recognition.
“We all go back to Ferntree Gully (fire station) for supper and sit there and talk and reminisce,” he said.
With the extra strain placed on fire crews this summer, Mr Lee admits that there is unlikely to be a shortage of new tales.
The torchlight parade will proceed down Station Street, Selman Avenue and Brennock Park Drive before entering Ferntree Gully Recreational Reserve at 8pm on Saturday, 3 March.