By Derek Schlennstedt
It’s not every day you turn 100, so when Muriel Burns turned 100 she knew exactly how to celebrate.
The Centenarian originally from Shepparton turned 100 on 17 July and had an entire CFA brigade visit her to take part in the celebrations.
Muriel’s granddaughter-in- law, Melanie Burns helped to organise the day, which included a personal visit from the Ferntree Gully CFA.
“Her daughter lives in Ferntree gully, so we reached out to the local CFA brigade,” Ms Burns said.
“She’s had a lifelong love of fire fighting services.”
“She has always loved firefighters and what they do for the community … we’re not too sure where it came from, but she is always getting the calendars and donating, so we thought it would be a nice surprise to make a gesture to the local brigade and see if they could attend.”
Ferntree Gully CFA Captain Seamus Smith said that although the brigade gets a number of odd requests this was definitely a first.
“It’s not the norm, but it was lovely to share Muriel’s 100th,” he said.
“The family member contacted us over our Facebook page and told us her grandmother has an interest in fire fighting services and asked if we could help join the celebrations of her 100th anniversary birthday.”
“We had plenty of members keen to get on board and celebrate the family’s milestone.”
“We took the truck down and had a good afternoon…the family was ecstatic that we came down to acknowledge the milestone.”
Ms Burns thanked the brigade for their attendance and said Muriel was ecstatic to see the fire truck and volunteers.
“She was really, really surprised and appreciative,” Ms Burns said.
“The brigade was amazing, they came down with the truck and the children got to play on it and we got a photo of the entire family with the members… it was a great celebration.”
Captain Smith said while it was an unusual request, the brigade wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.
“We’ve never done something like that, but there’s a first time for everything and after all not everyone turns 100.”
