CFA stalwart

By Casey Neill
The 52-year-old was “very humbled” to learn he would receive an Australian Fire Service Medal.
“It came right out of left field,” he said.
The Knoxfield resident joined the Mt Evelyn Fire Brigade juniors in 1969 at age 12.
“The fire station was across the road,” he said. “I think it’s a natural attraction for any kid to sit there and watch the fire trucks go in and out and go ‘I wanna be part of that’,” Mr Read said.
Since then he has served with the Tolmie and District, Wangaratta and Scoresby teams and worked with crews from around Australia through training courses and fire fights.
He enjoys being part of a team.
“I think I could go anywhere in Victoria and know someone in the town from the CFA,” he said.
Mr Read arrived in Knox in 1986 and joined Scoresby brigade as first lieutenant. He was elected captain in 1994.
He will take on the role of Knox Fire Brigades Group’s group officer from 1 July after holding deputy positions since 2004.
Mr Read has been heavily involved in CFA training programs.
“As my knowledge skill has increased I’ve passed it on to new firefighters,” he said.
“I’m passionate because on Black Saturday we sent a lot of troops into harm’s way. All those troops came home.”
Mr Read launched the CFA rookies course in 1986 and in the late 1990s helped introduce minimum skills and new training processes.
“That wasn’t accepted by all CFA volunteers because it put a bit of an onus on them to prove that they were in fact capable of doing what they said they were,” he said.
“It wasn’t the most popular decision but now it’s a benchmark, and any firefighter that turns out on a fire truck, everyone knows they’ve got the skills to be there.”
Three members of Mr Read’s Scoresby crew suffered burns battling February’s Nixon Road fire in Upwey.
“The leading firefighter there was well-trained and he saw the danger and he called them back to the truck the put the processes in place to save their lives,” he said.
“He saw it early … and as a result they only got minor burns.”
Mr Read nominated Black Saturday’s Quarry Road blaze as his closest call.
“It would have gone straight over the hill with a 120km/h wind up its bum,” he said.
“In my history in the CFA, that is one of the greatest saves we’ve ever made. That mountain was very, very lucky.”
He also fought the Ash Wednesday fires, was there the night the Knox City Council offices burnt to the ground, and was a member of taskforces sent to aid NSW crews.
Mr Read has also served in the Victorian police force for 37 years.
He said his CFA and police training “mesh in together”.
“I can talk the talk with the firies and, conversely, I can talk the talk with the police when we’re at a fire and we need police assistance,” he said.
Mr Read said his wife Sue, daughter Kirshy and sons Ricky and Andrew had been a “great support”.