By Tyler Wright
A young CFA volunteer firefighter has been recognised at the Clematis Fire Brigade’s 2022 Presentation Dinner held on Saturday 25 June.
The annual night celebrates those who have achieved milestone CFA awards and brigade awards over the previous 12 months.
Brodie McToldridge began volunteering at the Clematis Fire Brigade two years ago and at this year’s presentation night received the Captain’s Award, nominated by outgoing Captain Jarryd Miller for his outstanding contribution to the organisation in 2021.
“I want to be a career firefighter when I’m older, so it seemed the logical thing to do to join up, get a bit of knowledge about it first and it seemed like a great thing to meet people,” Brodie said.
“It’s been pretty unreal – it was very quick to feel welcomed and really fit in with them – and I’ve learned heaps from [members] about firefighting.
It’s been a great experience so far, and hopefully [for] much longer.”
Rob Russell, volunteer firefighter at the Clematis Fire Brigade for 15 years, said up-and-comers like Brodie are the “future” of the CFA.
“The guy is just fantastic – he deserves the Captain’s Award without a doubt,” Rob said.
“If we can get more of the likes of Brodie, people that have that quiet passion, he is terrific.”
Due to the pandemic, it took Brodie some time to be qualified to attend call outs, which he began completing at the beginning on 2022.
He has since attended a small car crash and a back burn to eliminate fuel in the path of a wildfire – and has made a close bond with fellow volunteers.
Members attend an average of 90 calls per year, as well as weekly training and meetings – but Rob, who also won Firefighter of the Year Award in 2022, said there is a recognition members do “what they can, when they can”.
“We understand everybody’s got lives and commitments…but you do quickly find that there are things you never anticipated would be there for you, so it’s enriching – it’s a privelege,” he said.
Six awards were given out at the dinner held at the brigade’s station on Wellington Road, including 30, 15 and 10 year service medals and a five year service certificate.
Shane Miller, former brigade captain and current 2nd Lieutenant, received a medal for his 30 years of volunteering for the CFA and was “pretty chuffed” to be acknowledged.
“I was maybe 19 or 20 when I joined – so I’m sorry I had a 12 year break otherwise I would have had a 40 year medal by now,” Shane said.
“When the kids were little there were lots of other things to do – interest rates were up at 17 per cent – I was working two jobs and didn’t have the time to put in.
But then a few years later my wife’s boss joined Clematis and said ‘come down and join them, they’re a really friendly brigade,’ so I went down there, joined up with them and have been there ever since.”
Shane said the highlight of his volunteering, first in the Scoresby brigade and then at Clematis, has been the friends he has made along the way.
“It’s been a very family friendly brigade [at Clematis] – when my son was coming up to turn 11, he said ‘you promised you’d start a junior brigade when I was 11,’ so we had a junior brigade for a while and a couple of our members that we’ve still got now come from [that] brigade,” he said.
“We’ve got about 24 [members] – we lost quite a few during Covid…it’s been a bit difficult to keep the numbers up, but we’ve just recently picked up four new members; we’ve got a young guy who’s just turned 18 and a young couple,” Shane said.
“We’re looking healthy for the future, which is good.”
Glenn Brown has recently assumed the role of Clematis Fire Brigade Captain, after taking over the reigns from Jarryd Miller.
