Upwey Fire Brigade is the first in the Dandenong Ranges to celebrate 100 years, and has a proud and prominent record of service, innovation and strong membership.
Brigade members were thrilled with the success of the centenary festival at the end of February. The weekend events began with a historical and memorabilia afternoon tea for current and ex-members, followed by a formal reception for 200 people on Saturday evening.
As well as brigade members, the reception was attended by Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley, District 13 Operations Manager David Renkin and Operations Officer Andrew Booth.
The current brigade captain and former captains spoke at the function about their memories and challenges during the periods of their leadership, which was a fascinating way to discover more about the brigade’s history.
The procession down Main Street on Sunday featured a variety of old and new fire trucks, former and current brigade members, and even a fly-past by a helitak. The annual billy cart races gave the onlookers something else to cheer about. Then the fire station was opened to the community so they could look at the historical and memorabilia display.
One of the brigade’s former captains, Ron Blood, was the first group officer of the Dandenong Ranges Group and contributed to the introduction of the ‘Gunga Din’ fitting (named after the water carrier in Rudyard Kipling’s poem) which enabled pumpers to draw water from multiple tankers without interruption. This fitting and one of the associated fittings, a 63mm-50mm twin female, were later adopted by CFA.
The brigade was also prominent in the introduction of HF radios in the local area and, more recently, was the first fully volunteer brigade to use thermal imaging cameras and other specialist equipment.
A book about Upwey brigade (written by a local historian) and a one-hour video featuring media and local brigade footage were also released over the weekend. They can be purchased by emailing book_sales@upweycfa.org.au.
Photos by Darren Clarke