Is this our new mascot??

art work by Tracey P Dec 09 (copyright)

Official Handover of GoornongTanker 2

In October we final had the official handover of Goornong Tanker 2. Brigades from the neighbouring area helped us celebrate this day and included Junourtoun, Elmore, Axedale and Huntly. Region 2 was represented by Dale Stemmer. The hand over was conducted by Jacinata Allan MP, Member for Bendigo East. Also in attendance were members of Northgate Minerals, and the Elmore Field days committee who provided valuable support in acquiring the tanker. City of Greater Bendigo was represented by Mayor Kevin Gibbins. BBQ lunch followed with Jacinta Allan presenting the annual firefighter of the year award. This year we had joint winners - congratulations to Keith and Sharon both well deserving of the award.

Goornong School Plantation FR burn

On Tuesday 3 Nov the brigade commenced its program of fuel reduction burns around the township. The old school plantation block behind the pool required our attention. The block had not been cleaned or managed for some years. One of our volunteers donated his time and bobcat to help clear understory and leaf litter in preparation for the burn. (Thanks Peter) I am not sure how much we actually pulled out but in a lot of the area the leaf litter was 6 to 8 inches deep. We commenced the burn around 6.30pm after each member was given an opportunity to present a brief summary of how they would approach the burn. The pictures tell the rest. The burn was reasonably successful, but not all that clean, and provided challenges for the members in relation to changing weather condition, significant treed areas and hazards on the ground. At the end a job well done.

Fire Awareness Day - Goornong Primary School

The Goornong Primary School had a fire awareness day during October. The whole school participated with Gary, the CFA Community Ed guy keeping the kids entertained while delivering an important message about keeping themselves safe. Garry provide some highly entertaining practical approaches which brought some interesting comments and lots of laughs for the kids.

After the indoor session the grade prep to 3 had a chance to go over Goornong Tanker 2 and have a play with some of the equipment including using the live reel with a new Protek 361 monitor. A number of us almost got wet but wasn't through lack of trying on the students part. The 4 to 6 grades unfortunately missed an opportunity as luck would have it we got a fire call to a grass and scrub.

Thanks to Gary, the Community Ed guy and Lex, principal Goornong PS

Recent news article on Goornong CFA

The Goornong Brigade recently figured in an article in the Bendigo Miner. A copy of the article is seen on left. The article provided an opportunity thank publicly those organisation who helped fund new equipment.

Our latest recruits complete minimum skills

Congratulations to Damian and Mathew our 2 latest recruits who have completed their minimum skills. They are pictured here being congratulated by Brett , Region 2 Wildfire Instructor. Well done guys.

Support for the Brigade

Over the last 12 to 18 months we have had a huge amount of support from both the local community and businesses. This support has enabled us to provide new and replacement equipment to ensure we continue to support the community through emergency response and above all do this in as safe an environment as possible. I would like to acknowledge the support provided by the following organisations:

• Elmore Field Days Committee
• Northgate (Fosterville) Mining
• Metricon Homes
• Gilmacs Pty Ltd
• Goornong CFA Night Owls
  
• CFA Region 2
• Broader Goornong Community
• Volunteers of the Goornong Brigade

Without the support of these people many of our achievements over the past 12 months would not have been possible.
A reminder to all that we are less than 100 days away from the start of the Fire Danger Period.

New Equipment

The brigade has just taken delivery of a number of new pieces of equipment thanks to the generosity of local businesses. These additions will help us in delivering assistance to our local community at the same time ensuring the safety of our volunteers.
Northgate Mining (Fosterville) provided funds to purchase 2 30mtr lengths of 25ml lay flat hose, 2 Protek 361 nozzles and associated hardware. Total Cost $2100.
Metricon Homes have also donated to the brigade $1000 which has been used to purchase 16 state of art helmet lights for operational firefighters. Pictured are representative from Metricon Homes and the Goornong CFA receiving the community cheque.

I would like to express our gratitude to these companies for their support in ensuring our on going effort to make our community and our volunteers safer.


Patto

Class A foam training Monday 22nd June

Monday evening saw the second day of class A foam training for the Goornong crew. We decided to make it interesting so 2 stacks of pallets later and a Firebug we had our test environment ready. The test was to, hopefully, show the benefits of foam against straight water. The crew divided into 2 teams. Tanker 1 the foamers and Tanker 2 the straight water. The results are unclear as we think each team got a bit competetive and may have employed diversionary tactics. Tanker 2 still trying to claim victory. Everyone enjoyed the training and provide an excellent team building exercise as well.
Patto

The torch light procession is held annually in Bendigo on Easter Sunday. This year, the Elmore group participated, with 24 members marching. The event was well organised by Keith Cumming, with two vehicles participating from the group (Elmore's forward command vehicle and Goornong's new tanker - pictured).

All members had a great time, and look forward to next year. Pictured in the photo are:- Front row from left:- David Patterson, Jason Carty, Tracey Taig, Braden Cumming, Keith Cumming, Wendy Young. Standing from left:- Rowan Lonsdale, Ros Maber, Ian Lonsdale, Bruce Anderson, Paul Maber, Graeme McKenzie, Glenn Trewick, Dianne Patterson, Colin Walker, Doug Strawhorn, Janet Filbey, Lorriane Lehney, Les Varker, Back of tanker from Left:- Tim McCrohan, Felicity Nicholls, Sharron Fullex.

4WD driver training was conducted in Huntly on 3rd and 4th April. Three members (Capt David Patterson, Lt Tim McCrohan & Denis Crowe) had the opportunity to hone their skills in difficult terrain.

Special thanks goes to the Mandurang, Sutton Grange and Mosquito Creek Brigades for the use of their tankers and Huntly for the use of their station, including providing morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.

It was the first time our new 1200 litre light tanker had been used in this environment. Members of other brigades also had the opportunity to test this tanker, with the final result being that it preformed extremely well, climbing a 30 degree slope in low range 2nd gear.

Little water was lost from the light tanker overflow throughout the day, compared to the Heavy 3.4C Hino twin cab tanker which lost approx half of its 3000 litre capacity. The general consensus was `the Light tanker is a very good thing'.