Tatura local puts her own spin on being a volunteer

 

CFA volunteer Charlotte Freemantle goes above and beyond to prove her versatility by serving the community with three brigades.

 

The 19-year-old Tatura local is a university student studying in Melbourne and when she visits her home in Tatura she turns out with her local fire brigade.

“When away from home I volunteer with North West Mooroopna as well and occasionally with Ballarat due to having friends and family over there,” Charlotte said.

“My advice to people who study full-time or have full-time jobs is volunteering is flexible and you can suit it to your own schedule.”

Charlotte joined at the age of 14 with CFA’s juniors along with the State Championships team and then when she turned 16 she became operational.

“My family are all volunteers. I love being a volunteer for CFA because it gives so much flexibility, but also you get introduced to a lot of new people and you get to learn a lot of new skills,” Charlotte said.

Charlotte is among a growing number of younger people signing up to join CFA, with 55 per cent of new recruits in the past 12 months falling into the 18 to 44 years of age category.

Last year CFA launched the ‘Give us a hand’ recruitment campaign, which proved a huge success, with more than 1,800 highly skilled and professional new members recruited across Victoria.

The push for more volunteers to join CFA is an investment in the future of Victoria's emergency response and recruitment is ongoing.

Regional and rural communities are still very much in need of more volunteers particularly daytime responders and young members.

If you’re interested in joining CFA or learning more about volunteering, head to www.cfa.vic.gov.au/volunteer to give us hand.  

 

Submitted by	CFA media