Freedom rings

By Casey Neill
KNOX has recognised fire, SES, police and ambulance crews with the city’s highest honour.
The council granted Honorary Freedom of the City for the first time in Knox’s history to recognise emergency service efforts on Black Saturday and in the disaster’s aftermath.
Knox mayor David Cooper conferred the tribute at Knox Civic Centre on Sunday (19 April).
“These people are heroes and deserving of our community’s highest praise,” he said.
The council acknowledged 14 crews, including St John Ambulance Australia’s Knox Division, the Ferntree Gully Metropolitan Ambulance Service, Knox and Boronia police, Knox SES and Boronia, Ferntree Gully, Upper Ferntree Gully and The Basin CFA teams.
Ferntree Gully Fire Brigade’s Grahame Daniel battled 7 February’s Quarry Road blaze in Upper Ferntree Gully that threatened to engulf the Dandenongs.
“I think (Black Saturday) set a new benchmark for what we thought was severe fire activity,” he said.
“I saw guys pretty close to exhaustion by the time we finished. Everyone was quite amazed we were actually able to get that under control.” He said the public thankyou was “unbelievable”. When you take up work with the CFA you do it as a service and to give back to the community,” he said.
Mr Daniel praised other emergency services for their support.
“When you get off that truck you just feel like collapsing,” he said.
Roy Ritchie has been a member of The Basin Fire Brigade for 51 years. “Everybody’s worked hard, there’s no good picking one out against the other,” he said.
“They’ve all done a fantastic job. They all worked as one unit.”
Knox SES controller Brett Taylor’s team supported fire crews on Black Saturday and helped with the clean up in Kinglake. “We support them as much as we can so they can go out there and do what they do best,” he said.
Knox police helped to coordinate emergency services, block roads, identify victims and secure homes in the state’s worst affected regions.
“But basically we’re just part of the network,” Boronia Senior Sergeant Cliff Sunderland said. Sen Sgt Sunderland said the disaster put strain on his station.
“But the wheels keep turning,” he said.
“We’re all bouncing back, and this is a big step. It’s almost part of the closure I guess.”
Freedom of the City was historically reserved for military forces. It includes no rights or privileges.
The honour cost the council $19,200.