Truganina is just one of many brigades around Victoria working hard to get their new recruits through training in time for summer.
Eleven new members have been training every Tuesday night and full Saturdays since late July. This past weekend was their final assessment focused on draughting from local dams and creeks.
“It’s a big commitment,” said Scott Parker who is Truganina secretary, treasurer and 4th lieutenant. While he’s the brigade’s only qualified trainer, he’s been supported by a roster of other members.
“These 11 range in age from 16/17 up to someone in their 40s. Three of them are coming up from our Juniors and three of them are women. Six of them have been previous non-operational CFA members and the other five are new to CFA. One of them is of Indian descent, one has just moved here from Europe and another is here on a student visa so there’s a lot of diversity there; a good mix.
“They have a range of availabilities during the week which is something we really targeted in the recruiting process, and I think six of them are likely to make it to our first truck.
“We get quite a few membership enquiries coming through our website and the CFA website. Our 3rd lieutenant Rodney Walkden set up a good interview process where we find out where people live in relation to the station.”
Captain Colleen Goodfellow runs her own business locally so is easily able to turn out. She agreed that it hasn’t been difficult to attract new members.
“We run information sessions so people know what they’re getting into,” she said. “Interviews are with one or two of our brigade management team and we’re also lucky to have a human resources professional in our brigade who does recruiting for a living. That’s a bonus.”
Truganina has multiple new housing estates. The brigade has 40 operational members and 20 non-operational including Juniors. They turn out an average of 390 times a year.
“We’ll have a barbecue at a training night soon to welcome these new members. They’ll help share the load and will be able to join us all for pre-summer training including the burnover drill.”
Author: Leith Hillard