In all, about 22 units attended the incident. 

“Look at what happened at Glenormiston, without the response we got we couldn’t have stopped that fire,” he said.

In his role Mr Place leads 11 brigades and said this season there had been good numbers within those brigades.

“They’ve turned out quickly and there’s been plenty of man power,” he said.

But it’s not the same for all communities with Elingamite Glenfyne just one brigade struggling to get adequate numbers.

CFA operations officer Mark Gunning said the brigade’s truck now sat in Cobden.

“We keep telling the community a truck will have to come from about 20kms,” he said.

“We’re working through a process with the brigade.

“We’ve been working with them to try to get them back on track.”

Mr Gunning said more corporate farms in the district often meant less people living in the rural communities.

Mr Place agreed and said towards the north where there were large corporate farms there were less volunteers. “They don’t have the local people,” he said.

“Out in the cropping areas the farms are so big they use contractors.”

According to the CFA across districts four, five and six there are about 8000 volunteers.

The three districts take in Casterton, Digby, Killara, Nelson, Portland, Broadwater, Hamilton, Hawkesdale, Mortlake, Nareen, Strathmore, Warrnambool, Camperdown, Cobden, Colac, Princetown and Timboon.

Mr Place said although the work done by volunteers could be sometimes physically hard it was very rewarding.

“It’s a rewarding commitment,” he said. “All brigades need more people and the people we’ve got provide a brilliant service.”

Mr Place encouraged more women to consider joining.

“We don’t have enough women in the brigades,” he said.

“We know there are capable women around but they’re under represented in the brigades.”

Mr Place said it was sometimes difficult for people who worked in town or ran businesses to simply drop everything and go to a fire.

“People are very busy,” he said. “But the people we tend to attract a busy people.”

Mr Place said there was a lot of personal satisfaction to be gained from being in the CFA.

“You might go on a campaign fire five days, it’s hard work but it’s enjoyable work,” he said. 

“There’s the mateship and there’s also getting a result and helping the community.”

ONCE a month the small farming community of Chocolyn come together at the CFA shed for a barbecue.

The social night is open to everyone and usually gets a strong turn out.

According to one of the brigade’s oldest members, Ted Peers, the get-togethers have brought everyone closer.

Mr Peers, 79, joined the brigade 23 years ago after moving from Gippsland, where he also volunteered with the CFA.

The retired beef farmer lives in Camperdown but continues to turn out to fires.

“There’s a great lot of blokes here,” he said.

“When we’re on jobs everyone contributes.

“Anytime get a page I come.”

Mr Peers said through the CFA he had gained enormous personal satisfaction from helping others.

“When you leave a fire and someone says thanks fella that’s good,” he said.

He said the monthly barbecue, which sometimes combined training, had been integral to uniting the group.

Brigade First Lieutenant Craig O’Carroll said the social night happened all year round.

He said the Christmas catch up had more than 50 people attend, including lots of families. 

“We send out a group text message and get it organised,” he said.

“It’s very important to the community.”

Mr O’Carroll said there were about 20 active members, ranging in ages from 79 to 23. 

“We have a strong camaraderie,” he said.

“We used to have a school and a tennis club. 

“(The CFA) is pretty much all we’ve got left. Most nights it really works.” 

Mr O’Carroll said on most fire ban days there were volunteers who manned the station and were ready to go.

He said at a recent fire near Colac volunteers needed to be at the shed at 5.30am for a 6am start to help with blacking out.

“You have no idea how long you’ll be at an incident,” he said. “Generally you hope it’s no longer than a 12 hour shift.”

Mr O’Carroll said recruiting volunteers was always on the brigade’s agenda.

“We’ve had some new people move to the area so we’ve been out to meet them,” he said. 

“You can never have too many.”

MICHAEL Williams is following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.

Born and bred in Noorat, Mr Williams joined the community’s CFA about five years ago. 

The dedicated brigade has about 30 active members and a succession plan in place for the 21-year-old to take on the role as captain.

Mr Williams said he was confident he would be fully supported in the top job, with outgoing captain Craig Wood providing strong support. The agri business assistant said he enjoyed being part of the brigade and had decided to join because of his family’s involvement. 

He said his employer, Rural Bank, had been supportive of his CFA commitments and in his time he had attended about 90 per cent of call outs.

“On the days rated hot I can work from home which is good,” he said.

At the other end of the spectrum is 82-year-old David Lourey who still mans the Noorat Station on fire danger days.

The retired dairy farmer has been part of the brigade for 60 years and is a life member of the CFA.

He said the sense of mateship was what he enjoyed about being in the brigade. “There’s good camaraderie,” he said.

“I miss going out (on the truck),” he said. “They reckon I can’t do it.”

On risky fire days Mr Lourey gets to the station at 9.30am and makes sure the truck and other equipment is ready to go. 

“Then I sit here and hope nothing happens,” he said. 

FOR some farming communities the decline in population is causing headaches for sustaining their brigades.

Sadly, it’s the case for the Elingamite Glenfyne brigade. Due to a lack of volunteers there is not enough active members to respond to fires and other incidents.

During the Glenormiston fire in January the brigade didn’t have enough members to attend. Cobden brigade administration support’s Betty Robilliard said the brigade needed people to take on leadership positions and more operational members.

Last year a call for more volunteers was made with concerns the brigade’s future was in doubt. At the time captain Greg Free said the lack of active members was making it hard for the brigade’s volunteers to do their job. “It’s always a struggle to get the truck out,” he said.