By JESSE GRAHAM
A CFA stalwart has been rewarded for six decades with his brigade, having a pumper named in his honour, and receiving a medal from the organisation’s top officer.
On Friday 20 June, Bob Horner received a 60-year service medal at the Sassafras-Ferny Creek Fire Brigade’s annual dinner by CFA Chief Officer Euan Ferguson and Victorian Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley.
To accompany his medal, the Sassafras Pumper – a truck prototype that Mr Horner had helped to develop in the early 2000s – was officially named after him.
Mr Horner said that he was very honoured to have his name immortalised on the vehicle, and described his time in the brigade as “rewarding”.
“What more can you say, other than you’re honoured to have your name on it?” he said.
“It was totally unexpected and very surprising.”
He said that when he started with the fire brigade, there was virtually no brigade to speak of, and that he joined other community members in rallying for volunteers to sign up. Sassafras-Ferny Creek CFA Captain, John Schauble, said that permission for the pumper to be named after Mr Horner came down instantly.
“Bob’s contribution, not just to our community, but to the fire services across Victoria is widely recognised,” Mr Schauble said.
“We thought it absolutely fitting to have the very vehicle he had developed for the state named in his honour.”
Only one other CFA truck in the district is named after a long-serving member – Wesburn-Millgrove Fire Brigade’s Brian Halit, who contributed 50 years to his brigade.
Mr Horner was twice the captain of the Sassafras-Ferny Creek Fire Brigade, and has also served the Dandenong Ranges Fire Brigades Group and the Rural Volunteers Firefighters’ Association.
