Last Thursday night, 19 September, Wodonga West Fire Brigade members and members from other brigades in the Wodonga Group hosted a community engagement event for the local Fijian community.
As part of our roles as volunteers and the Community Safety team, we have experienced many magic moments and this event reinforced to us why it is such a pleasure to be part of community engagement.
After a community safety session facilitated by AWECC (Albury Wodonga Ethnic Community Council) several months ago, a number of Fijian community members living and working in Wodonga expressed interest in volunteering with CFA.
As a result, on 19 September 2024, we arranged for them to visit Wodonga West Fire Station, where brigade Captain Gary Lockhart and five brigade volunteers hosted the AWECC Fijian community's introduction to CFA volunteering.
More than 20 Fijian men and women attended the information session, discussed the benefits of volunteering, then moved into the engine bay to be shown all the vehicles and equipment.
There was lots of laughter, a lot of water sprayed around, warning lights activated and some went for a ride in the Wodonga West tanker. There were many questions about how it all works and what it is used for.
The brigade volunteers also demonstrated the difference between 'structure' and 'wildfire' personal protection equipment, with the outfits being tried on and paraded around the station.
The camaraderie that was born at this event bertween the Fijians and Wodonga West members was palpable, and as brigade Captain Gary Lockhart said, “We have an open-door policy for all to join the Brigade and CFA”.
After eating, a pastor with the Fijian community began to sing and all the Fijians joined in. The station reverberated with song, and it bought a tear to my eye, as with most of the CFA volunteers. What a joy to listen to them sharing their culture.
Gary thought it was a wonderful evening.
"After sharing some pizza, the magic happened and the meeting room erupted into song with the Fijians sharing some of their culture with us," Ross Coyle said.
"It was fantastic to be involved, especially as members from other brigades in the group joined in to make it a group event.
"Events such as this make me a very proud CFA member."
Not all the Fijians are interested in becoming firefighters, though some of them will become part of the CFA family as a way for them engage and give back to the wider community.
The event reinforced to us that CFA needs to keep encouraging and welcoming the multicultural members of our community to join us as we would all benefit.
| Submitted by |
Maureen Piera and Will Vale |