All in the family

By Casey Neill
UPPER Ferntree Gully Fire Brigade volunteer Tracey Jenner found a second family when she signed up with the CFA almost four years ago.
The 26-year-old had just moved to Australia from England in July 2008.
“I’d always volunteered for something and when I moved to the area, the fire brigade was the obvious thing to volunteer with given that we live in a high fire danger area,” she said.
“People always think it’s quite odd to say, but it’s quite a lot of fun.
“It’s obviously got a serious side but thankfully we don’t really have to do that very often.”
The crew trains at the fire station twice a week – providing a challenge and an escape.
“It’s completely different from my work life, which is nice,” Ms Jenner said.
“And these guys are my friends. They’re a great bunch of people and they’ve kind of become like a second family.
“It’s like having 30 older brothers!”
But the brigade needs more people to join its family and is holding a recruitment drive to bolster its numbers.
“It’s serving the community. We do need people to come and help out,” Ms Jenner said.
“It’s not as scary as everyone thinks it is.”
She said vision of devastating fires on the news intimidates people.
“It’s not necessarily as scary as all of that,” she said.
“It’s a good challenge. It challenges you in a way that I don’t get in any other area of my life.”
And she said women shouldn’t be put off by the male-dominated crew.
“They’ll accept you,” she said.
“As long as you’re willing to get your hands dirty then you’re in.”
Ms Jenner said blazes like those on and after Black Saturday were emotionally and physically difficult.
“It’s pretty hard knowing that you and your crew and the team you’re working with are basically a family’s last hope for saving their house,” she said.
“But there’s an incredible amount of support around.
“The tough times are few and far between and when they do hit, you’ve got a lot of people around giving you support.”
She said brigade stalwarts always looked after the ‘newbies’.
“And you have six months of training before you’re even allowed to go out to a job,” she said.
“You’re not ever just thrown into it.
“You just kind of go into autopilot. You’ve been trained for that long and everything just comes so naturally.”
Upper Ferntree Gully Fire Brigade has been part of the community for 86 years and attends house, grass and bush fires, car accidents, and hazardous materials incidents.
The crew is urging anyone aged 16 years or over to help their community, learn new skills and make new friends.
“If people come along and give it a go they may find that it’s for them,” Ms Jenner said.
Upper Ferntree Gully Fire Brigade will hold an information session at its Burwood Highway fire station from 7.30pm on Tuesday 27 March.
Call 0419 378 572 for more information.