By Renee Wood
The community is invited to join the Coldstream Fire Brigade for the new station’s open day being held on Sunday 23 October.
The Coldstream crew moved into the site earlier this year and would like the opportunity to introduce locals to the facilities.
The fire brigade has a long history of supporting the region after the first station opened on Killara Road in 1965.
As the years went by, the brigade continued to build new areas at the old site to accommodate the needs and trucks however, they quickly outgrew the area and the desire for the new station arose.
The CFA first bought the land for the new station 12 years ago and the brigade are now celebrating the completion of the project.
Captain Sean Bethell said the move has provided plenty of room to grow with space for their trucks, better safety during turnouts plus more training and meeting areas.
“It’s also given us good accessibility onto the road, rather than being so close to the highway, but also being next to the brewery we’re far enough away that their patrons don’t use that car park,” Cpt Bethell said.
The Coldstream Primary School will be running a sausage sizzle fundraiser on the day and there will be activities for children to enjoy.
Anyone interested in recruiting is also encouraged to attend to meet other members and learn more about volunteering.
“We’ve always got a changing population in the estate, a number of members are aging as they do, and people also move away because there’s not much housing around here,” Cpt Bethell said.
“So those that we can get out of the estate that are planning to hang around is who we need.”
Information about training and commitments can be provided at the open day.
“We want to really try and do a big drive on young members and also active female firefighters as well.”
Information will be provided on the day about the CFA and attendees can learn more about the new Fire Danger Rating system which came into affect in September.
You can also support the volunteer run brigade as it continues to raise funds to replace the brigade owned pumper.
The appliance has served the community well, attending over 75 incidents this year alone.
The brigade built the pumper in 1996 and is primary designed for structure fires and car crashes.
If you’d like to learn more about the local CFA and how you can support it, meet the captain and members at the open day on Sunday 23 October between 10am-2pm at the Killara Road station.
