By Taylah Eastwell
A line-up of dedicated local volunteers were recognised for their heroic and selfless service at a recent awards night at Clematis CFA.
Held on Saturday 22 May, 11 Clematis CFA volunteers went home heavy handed after the awards ceremony.
Clematis CFA captain Jarryd Miller said it was great to see so many long-standing volunteers recognised for their time spent in the brigade.
“It was good to have a night like that, because we didn’t get to have one last year. It was great to see people be rewarded for their time, you don’t get a lot of thanks as volunteers so it was just a nice bit of recognition,” Mr Miller said.
Awards were handed out for 40 years of service, as well as 35, 30, 25, 20 and 10 year stints, with Clematis CFA having a long list of lifelong volunteers.
Firefighting volunteer Les Smith was recognised for 40 years of service, while life member Mark Lane and firefighter Peter Richardson were commended for 35 years.
Simon King took home a plaque for 30 years service, Steven Parkes for 25 years and captain Jarryd Miller was also recognised for 20 years of voluntary service to the local brigade.
At age 32, Jarryd has spent the majority of his life as a volunteer firefighter.
“I came up through the juniors, started when I was 11 and moved to seniors at 16,” he said.
“My dad was in the fire brigade and I used to pester him to start a junior brigade. I pestered him for ages and was hanging around the fire station heaps until eventually he started a junior brigade,” Jarryd said.
During his time, Jarryd has attended countless callouts, including the great battle that was Black Saturday.
“There are always jobs you remember. Most are car accidents, especially the ones that involve kids. It’s always the bad ones that stand out,” he said.
For Jarryd, the reason he volunteers isn’t easy to put into words, with voluntary service “just a part of life”.
“I don’t really put much thought into it. That part doesn’t cross my mind, someone’s got to do it. Clematis is a very small town, I think we have three members that live in Clematis, the rest live in Emerald and surrounds, so there’s not a lot of other people to do it,” he laughs.
10 years of service awards also went to Daniel Edwards, Kayla Edwards and Bruce Ratcliff.
The Captains Award went to Rob Russel and Daniel Edwards was also named the Clematis CFA Firefighter of the Year.
Clematis CFA president Brad Battin said the awards night celebrated 180 years of volunteer service between just eight volunteers.
“I want to put on record my thanks to all of them for their outstanding commitment,” Mr Battin said.
“I would like to acknowledge brigade captain, and friend, Jarryd Miller. 20 years’ service with over six as captain, Jarryd has served in many roles. He regularly puts the community first and stops work to get to any incident,” he said.
“Those at the brigade know and understand his commitment and from all the community Jarryd, we say thank you.
