CFA farewell

By Casey Neill
HUNDREDS farewelled Upper Ferntree Gully Fire Brigade member Russell Pitt at an emotional CFA tribute last week.
Fire destroyed Mr Pitt’s Jean Street home on 12 February. He was on a break from battling the Yarra Glen and Mirboo North fire fronts and died in the inferno.
Family, friends and colleagues, including more than 120 uniformed CFA members, attended his funeral in Ferntree Gully last Thursday (5 March).
Knox Environment Society’s Irene Kelly spoke briefly about the 50-year-old’s involvement with the group.
President Darren Wallace said Mr Pitt was a member for several years and spent much of January helping to construct their new community nursery.
Mr Wallace said his experience as an engineer was invaluable.
The group honoured Mr Pitt with a plaque at the Ferntree Gully Recreation Reserve site.
“The Knox Community could do with more people like Russell,” Mr Wallace said.
Mr Pitt was a Ferntree Gully and District Cricket Association umpire and a Frankston City Council Infrastructure Department team member.
He was an Upper Ferntree Gully Fire Brigade member for more than 10 years.
CFA chiefs detailed Mr Pitt’s service history.
They described him as a significant contributor to his brigade who was always willing to step up when others did not.
The team’s tanker led the hearse from the service through a CFA guard of honour.
Upper Ferntree Gully Fire Brigade captain Peter Smith said Mr Pitt would be sorely missed.
“He was a great fireman and a great person who’d do anything for you,” he said.
Mr Pitt’s elderly father Frank, sister Christine, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, and brother Graham, attended the service.
Friends recalled Mr Pitt as “a very honest gentleman” and “quiet and unassuming” with a “quirky sense of humour”.