By Callum Ludwig
With major fires raging in Gippsland in October and in Queensland and northern New South Wales currently, it’s time to keep firefighters in our thoughts as the fire season encroaches upon us.
The annual blessing and thanksiving for some of our local brigades took place on Sunday 29 October.
Vicar of the Anglican Parish of Wandin, Seville and Mt Evelyn Reverend Ross Duncan said it’s an opportunity to connect with the volunteers and their families and pray for their safety for the upcoming fire season.
“We pray for them during the season and to be able to provide whatever support we can in terms of their operations, it’s not necessarily going out and fighting in the field, but it could be supporting their loved ones or support in practical means such as food, clothing and assistance,” he said.
“I think it’s really important that we as a community get behind our volunteers and vocally tell them about support, care and love for them and to actually be practical in the way that we assist them.”
Crews from the Wandin, Seville, Gruyere and Yellingbo brigades turned out in a total of five trucks and a support vehicle.
Rev Duncan said each brigade gave a bit of an account of what’s been happening and their concerns at the moment for this season.
“The brigade from Wandin have had an extremely busy year in terms of call outs to serious accidents so we prayed that they’d be released from that, Yellingbo are tracking along okay with their preparations for the season and they’ve been grateful for the update of some of their equipment,” he said.
“Gruyere struggling in terms of membership so they’re looking for further volunteers, as is Seville, they’ve both found coming out of Covid that they had lost some of their volunteers and there’s not as many people that are putting their hand up to come along to be involved.”
Crews from local brigades across the region have already extended their support to the major fires that have already hit the country, with crew members from Seville, Hillcrest and Little Yarra heading up to Queensland over the first week of November.
Rev Duncan said they also prayed for the mental wellbeing of firefighter’s families.
“Their families are often under just as much pressure as they are, they make a sacrifice in terms of time and their lives with their loved ones being away serving the community,” he said.
“They’re having to wait at home, concerned about their safety and that’s hard especially on days like Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.”
