A busy Easter in Beechworth

A great view of the Golden Horseshoe Parade from Tanker 3's deck.

 

Beechworth Fire Brigade had a busy Easter.

 

On Friday, like so many other brigades, brigade members were out and about collecting money for the Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal.

It's such a delight to see people waiting at the roadside to put notes and coins into the collection tins, and fun to see the children collectors racing each other to the next donor to collect a donation.

Along with our neighbouring brigades at Wooragee, Stanley and Yackandandah, we collected just over $24,000 for the appeal.

On Saturday, Beechworth held its annual Golden Horseshoe Festival in the centre of town, culminating in a community parade. Our fire trucks were washed, detailed, and polished to within an inch of their lives, followed by our crew who looked great in their CFA work wear. We joined the parade through town.

Whilst the Drag’d Out float (for our annual Drag Queen festival) might have beaten Beechworth brigade in the shininess and sparkles stakes, we definitely won the loudest competition! It was humbling to hear people calling out their thanks for what a country fire brigade does. It is a reminder of the obligation we take for community, and the trust placed in us.

On Sunday night, the brigade had a call-out to the local football pavilion, following reports that the building had been set alight. But on arrival, we discovered a fire pit had been left unattended.

Harking back to the days of yore, our newest firefighter who completed General Firefighter training just a week earlier, had the honour of extinguishing the fire with a bucket. She was duly photographed and lauded.

We had an early start on Monday morning with a run up to Mayday Hills where a hotel had been evacuated after a smoke alarm activated. Although being greeted by bleary-eyed patrons in the pre-dawn light was not exactly the start to the day any of us had planned, it all ended well as it was a false alarm.

During mid-morning the pager once again blared, with reports of a vehicle accident with possible people trapped. Despite rolling their vehicle through the trees, the occupants were extremely lucky to be able to climb out of the vehicle with only minor injuries.

Before we'd cleared the car accident, we were called to a structure fire in the Beechworth Servicemen’s Memorial Hall. Upon arrival we were met with the crowds who were leaving the renowned Beechworth Botanica/Animal Magnetism 2024 Art Exhibition. We felt the pressure of doing a size-up of the incident with a solid crowd and more than a few nervous artists and exhibitors in attendance.

We managed to contain the fire to the point of origin, with no damage to the art on display or the hall. After a good hit of ventilation with a fan, and a check by the local on-call electrician, the exhibition was cleared to open.

Overall, we had four call-outs over a festival weekend, with the centre of town closed, temporary traffic restriction in place, and heaps holiday traffic. We were able to respond at least two full trucks of well-trained firefighters to each call, and met our benchmark times.

Shall we call that honouring the trust placed in us?

 

Submitted by	Brad Buckingham, Beechworth Fire Brigade