Three women are now at the helm of Lyons Fire Brigade, leading a small community in the far southwest of Victoria, paving the way for generations to come.
Newly elected Captain Melissa Free, who has been with CFA for 18 years, is following in the footsteps of her husband, Percy, who has stepped down after seven years in the role.
“It is a privilege to be the Captain, and I hope to do as good of a job as Percy did,” Melissa said.
“I just want to give the community more awareness that we are here, and to make sure we’re out and about so everyone can see what is going on and that we’re here to help them.
“It is critical we build a good relationship with the community we’ve got.
“Women in leadership roles within CFA are really important, and I belong to the Women’s Advisory Committee and that is something we’re really trying to achieve.
“To have the three of us here is a really good start.”
Before making the treechange to Lyons, Melissa first started at Chocolyn Fire Brigade, after her grandfather and father moved from Warneet. During this time, she moved through the ranks from Training Officer, to Lieutenant and inevitably, Captain.
Outside of Lyons she is also the Captain of the District 4 Headquarters brigade and a CFA Community Engagement Coordinator.
“I love looking after our community and helping keep people safe,” Melissa said.
“I’ve made so many friendships over the years that I never would have met before and the training we get is amazing.
“We’re a very small brigade, with 12 members, including nine who are active, but when that siren goes off, we’re out the door very quickly.”
For 1st Lieutenant and six-year member Sarah Bolte who has grown up in the area, it is the community connection and network hub that comes with it that she enjoys most.
“There was a need for more members, and they wanted to get some younger members to come in and get the brigade going again – it has been great to help out our community.” Sarah said.
“While we all knew each other in a roundabout way, we’ve built a stronger connection since being part of the brigade.
“As a part time farmer and bank worker in town, being within the agricultural sector, it doesn’t really matter to me if we’re male or female, we just get the job done and we all chip in. But it is nice to have a female’s perspective on things.”
Since leaving veterinary services five years ago, 2nd Lieutenant Amanda Macdonald said CFA has become a higher priority for her now that she is able to give more time to it as a full time farmer.
“I used to do a lot of on call work and late nights, and since I’ve stopped that I’ve had a bit of an opening in my life. The brigade was struggling with numbers, and I wanted to help keep the brigade operating and the truck getting to fires, so I joined up.” Amanda said.
“I think it is a great tradition to be part of CFA as an Australian farmer. The skills and knowledge we have are valuable, and it goes both ways. We’ve built skills through what CFA has helped give us, and the skills that we offer to CFA are really important to a healthy rural community.
“Driving trucks and vehicles off road has been a big part of my life as a farmer and a vet, as well as working pumps and understanding fire behaviour. But it has been really helpful from a farming perspective to get a deeper understanding of how firefighting works.
While Sarah and Amanda remain in town during summer responding to local call outs due to being busy on the farm, Melissa, who has completed her strike team leader course and is undergoing endorsement, usually deploys across the state where needed during fire season.
“I always doubted myself and that course was the one thing I didn’t think I’d ever get through, but I’ve done the training and I’m really excited about it.,” Melissa said.
