By JESSE GRAHAM
Firepower march is a spectacular parade ending in Amazing Grace…
FIREFIGHTERS from across the hills and beyond will hold their bi-annual torchlight march later this month, and are inviting residents to witness the colossal parade.
The Knox Fire Brigades group, which includes Ferntree Gully CFA and brigades through the hills, will be holding their torchlight march Firepower on Parade on Saturday 28 February.
Beginning at 8.30pm, up to 25 fire brigades will march from the Ferntree Gully Fire Station to the Ferntree Gully Recreation Reserve, holding torches and accompanied by marching and pipe bands and trucks both old and new.
The torches are lit, long-stemmed open kerosene lamps and torches, and over 250 volunteer firefighters are expected to take part in the event.
Event publicity officer and firefighter Graham Crichton said the event was a chance for firefighters to meet up, unwind and share a yarn, and for the public to thank them for their efforts over the fire season.
He said the event involved a “mammoth” level of organisation, with preparations for the event running for the last six months.
“The Knox Group torchlight is one of the biggest in the state,” Mr Crichton said.
“It’s an opportunity for firefighters from Victoria or interstate to simply get together and, in many ways, show their strength.
“It’s a great opportunity for firefighters to get together afterwards, swap yarns and get something to eat together.”
He said it was a new tradition at the event, which was held every two years, for the bands taking part in the march to gather at the end and perform Amazing Grace.
Mr Crichton said the song had become a tradition in the 2009 torchlight, held shortly after the Black Saturday bushfires burnt over 450,000 hectares across the state, killing 173 people.
“We were in two minds as to whether we should hold the torchlight, and we decided it would be a good thing to do, to give firefighters the opportunity to do something different and to get the weight of the world off of their shoulders,” he said.
“It was the best thing that we ever did.”
The song will take place after all the torches from the firefighters have been extinguished, and will be followed by a large fireworks display to finish the evening.
Emergency Services Commissioner, Craig Lapsley, will lead the Ferntree Gully march.
Belgrave, Belgrave Heights/South, Ferntree gully, Montrose, The Basin, Upper Ferntree Gully, Clematis, Selby, Sassafras/Ferny Creek, Olinda and Macclesfield will be taking part, along with other brigades from the group and Knox SES.
Residents from the Knox area, the Dandenong Ranges and the Yarra Valley are invited to come along to the event and line the streets to watch the march.
The march will travel from the Ferntree Gully fire station in The Avenue, along Station Street, Spring Street and Brenock Park Drive to the Ferntree Gully Recreation Reserve.
The event coincides with National Red Balloon Day (NRBD) on 28 February, where a fund-raiser will be held for the Olinda Rural Fire Brigade at The Real Thing Craft Centre during the day.
NRBD encourages people around Australia to tie a red balloon to their letter box or donate money to their local fire brigade, as a thankyou to firefighters in the community for their work over the year.
