By Dongyun Kwon
The Yarra Glen Fire Brigade currently has 12 female members out of 32 members.
It is a huge improvement compared to the time when one of the senior female members, Ashleigh Boyd joined the crew.
“Back then we only had three female members and I was the youngest one,” Ms Boyd said.
“We now have 12 female members including non-operational members.”
She has served on the team for about 17 years and said her experience within CFA has been “a joy”.
“I joined when I was about 14 and I am now 30,” Ms Boyd said.
“I’ve enjoyed it. I love going down and getting to know the community and also learning off of the oldies.”
One of her most unforgettable experiences was Black Saturday in 2009 which was the first big fire she was involved with when she was 16.
“I was very lucky to have multiple dads back then,” Ms Boyd said.
“All the men around me sheltered me and looked after me to make sure I was okay.”
The Black Saturday fires also affected the brigade positively by forming a special bond.
“The culture of being protective of each other has trickled in and has kept going through our brigade since then,” she added.
Another ‘firey’, Maree Ross, recently finished the firefighting training course after three years of non-operational service there.
“I firstly joined as a volunteer just to be part of the community by helping out in the community engagement stuff,” she said.
“And I just wanted to do a little bit more, that’s why I decided to do my general firefighting course.”
Ms Ross took the course from May to July which taught her the skills to become a firefighter.
She went to her first call out for a structure roof fire in Yarra Glen on 19 September.
“I was a little bit nervous but when I got to the incident, I just put into practice what I have learnt and supported my teammates,” she said.
“It went quite well and it was a lot better than what I thought.”
Annabelle Forsyth, who is 16, is about to start a fire fighting training course to be a firey.
“I came up during the juniors program and as soon as I turned 16, I just knew that it was something I wanted to do,” she said.
Both Ms Boyd and Ms Forsyth were inspired to join a fire brigade by their fathers who had been volunteering as firefighters.
“The thing that made me join CFA was watching my dad,” Ms Boyd said.
“What my dad did sparked my interest.”
Yarra Glen Fire Brigade has regular monthly training with extra irregular training to make sure all the members keep their skills up to scratch.
“On Sundays, we come down to the station to do our truck maintenance and if we get enough numbers, we’ll do extra training as well,” Ms Boyd said.
