Whats been going on...

This fire season we have experienced on of the driest in years, with hardly no rain recorded since the middle of November 2012. There has been a number of major fires in the district including the Tooleen fire some months ago. Of concern is the continued threat we face until we receive rain. The fire danger period will continue until the moisture levels in the ground return to a safe level to prevent fire from spreading. So far this year, the community has been wonderfully proactive in ensuring that fires don’t start, something brigade members are thankful for. We ask that you continue with the great vigilance until the rains come.

The brigade has received it’s first sets of breathing apparatus. These devices allow crew to enter a burning building to allow for rescue and internal fire attack. Training is underway for the technical side of internal firefighting but it is a wonderful addition in protecting life and property in the Goornong area. 

The CFA through the VFBF who represent the volunteers have advertised widely about the importance of thinking like a volunteer. Again we reinforce the message that because a fire starts in your area does not mean that you will receive a warning or that a tanker will turn up to protect you and your property. Goornong has two tankers with experienced crew but they can’t be everywhere. Have you thought about your fire plan. What happens if you see smoke upwind of your place. What actions will you put in place to keep your family, cherished pets and property safe. 

For more information, please see the CFA website www.cfa.vic.gov.au or talk to one of our members.

New members are always welcome at the brigade – meetings are on the last Monday of the month.
For more information, please ring Tim McCrohan Captain of the Goornong fire brigade on 0409 404 498.

Goornong Resident of the Year one of our own...

We wish to congratulate Barry Winzar on His award this year – Goornong resident of the year. Barry has been involved in many of the community groups around the district over the years including the CFA where He held the position of secretary for a number of years. There are very few people around who have the local knowledge of the Welshford forest like Barry has, and this has aided in reducing the fire threat to our community over the last past few years. Barry now calls Bendigo home but frequents his farm regularly. Congratulations Barry.

RIP Brian 'Giffo' Giffney

Since our last post, our brigade lost one of its stall warts, Brian Giffney who passed away recently. He was an active member of the brigade until health took its toll and He was unable to turn out to incidents. He still was able to pass on a wealth of experience through His wisdom. One thing that Giffo was always remembered for and all the members of the brigade say in unison, `Black out off the truck’. He would force crews to do the hardest and dirtiest part the hard way and He had a sound motto – Do the job once. So often we have heard of fires that have jumped containment lines because of poor blacking out. This is one skill that all new members have learnt and it is second nature now. Off the truck and do it right. I guess that’s why we don’t have to return to fires. Our thoughts are with his family.

30 years of service...

A big congratulations to both Frank Dole and Barry Winzar who late last year were awarded for 30 years service. Both were presented Life Membership for their long service and commitment to the brigade.

Brigade Service awards were presented by Mr Gibbs and Mr Alun Hughson, Operations Manager CFA.

Congratulations to the following members who were present to receive their awards. There were many other awards to be presented, however, several recipients were not present. These will be presented later.

5 year certificate – Donna Papworth & Di Patterson
10 year medal – Ruth Jenkins, Felicity Nicholls, Tony Trotter, Les Varker & Wendy Young
20 year medal – David Patterson

A big congratulations to all those awarded.

Easter Parade Preparations

Come one come all and join in the fun...

That was the idea on Friday 30 March which saw adults and kids alike enjoy getting down and dirty with glow in the dark paints. All the preparations are coming together for the Easter parade... Although the mozzies were way too friendly, fun was had getting our trailer ready for the big night.

Don't forget to come out and support your local members and families at the parade!!!

Fiskville 2012 Challenge

7th of January till 18th of January

by Teisha Fullex

On the 7th of January 19 participants and 3 leaders from around Victoria all gathered at Fiskville to start an Adventure of a life time. When everyone arrived no one knew anyone. After we said our goodbyes to our family members our adventure started. Stewart gave us a short introduction about the challenge and about the day ahead of us.

At 1500hrs The senior group started their walk up to the training center to watch a short movie about the history of Fiskville and the Challenge. After the movie we got introduced to Carol and Michael (they are who i had at Hattah), they are the life performance instructors for the course.

The first 3 days involved classes with Carol. Learning about ourselves and other people, how they react and how they don't, about setting goals etc. Each morning included a 0600hrs wake up to be ready by 0630hrs to start our 5km walk. Each one of Carols classes brought the team closer together. Mark our leader told us that we had to come up with a Team name, our team name was "Team Unity". We were also given blocks of wood that we had to carry everywhere with us because we had to write on the back of it our "Baggage". After the 2days we had to write a submission as a team and present it to Carol, once she approves it we get to say goodbye to our baggage forever and not think about it ever again. So when we got rid of it we burnt it.

After the first 3 days we then boarded a bus to Bairnsdale then another bus out to where we start our rafting for the next 4 days. The first 3 days were rafting. But we in counted a bad storm where we had to get off the water for an hour and head winds the whole way, so instead it taking 3 days to paddle 66kms it took 4 days. We also had to pull our rafts out the water twice as well as all of our packs and carry them across rocks. Each night we would cook dinner, set up bivvies, dig Doug (Doug was the shovel but we ended up calling the toilet Doug as well) and make a fire. After Dinner we would have a team briefing, by the time that was over it was almost 2300hrs most of the time. We had to get up at 0600hrs every morning.

Once off the water we had to hike about 13km. 90% of it was up hill, and because of my knee i struggled a lot. But with the help of my Team and Wayne's walking pole i made it and achieved what i set out to do, which was "Complete everything that was thrown at me while at Challenge". That night we split up into 3 groups. A 2000hrs one, 2400hrs and 0300hrs. That was for the caving. I was in the 2400hr group, the cave was amazing but due to a couple of people in my group that we slow getting down we lost allot of time and we didn't get to see the whole of the cave, we only saw the wedding chamber and the music chamber, but both were amazing. When we came out it was 0300hrs and we still had to hike up a massive hill, before we did the caving i had half an hour sleep so when i got back to camp i fell asleep straight away. When morning come, one of the chicks that were in the first group decided that she will come and wake everyone up at 6am, let's just say that didn't go down well with me and i refused to get out of bed, so she raised her voice at me and i bit back. I didn't hear a word from her again. But i wasn't the only one that was pissed at her.

After the rest of the group got back we had breakfast and a debrief about the day ahead of us. The day ahead of us was our 24hr solo. So after camp was packed up we got all of our solo gear which consisted of; 4lts of water, couscous, hot chocolate powder, milk powder, baked beans, tuna and muesli, mini Doug, a bivvie, bivvie cords and 3 pegs. Dan and Nick pick our spots for us, we have a 10meter radius around our little camp. While on course we had questions to answer which were; What were my goals for challenge, my limiting story, the animal i have been while on course and a gift for the group. After sharing everything with the group we then went back up to the main camp and boarded a bus to go to the rock climbing and abseiling.

Once we arrived at the site we had to walk about 500meters to the abseiling and it was a 36 degree day so it was really hot. Because i had already done Abseiling before Dan and Nick made me jump all the way down instead of walking, So i did. And with the rock climbing they made me do the second hardest one. Which i struggled with but i made it up. After the rock climbing we then set off for camp for the LAST night of the Outward Bound component.

Dan and Nick cooked us dinner that night, we had buretteos, they were yummy. As a group we decided to sleep under the stars. That night we had a massive possum problem, and these possums were not scared, we were throwing water bottles, shoes basically anything we could throw we threw at them, and all they did was stand there and stare. So that night was pretty restless.

The next morning we had to get up early so we could wash down and pack the rest of our gear. Once packed up the bus arrived and it was time for us to go back to Fiskville. We were all sad to be leaving the Snowy Mountains but were excited to get back to shower because no one had showered for 8 days so we were all pretty smelly. We stopped at Sale for lunch, most of us walked into maccas, i think we all cleared it out we smelt and looked terrible so i wouldn't have blamed them all running away it was quite funny. Once we ate maccas we were back on the road. Once back at Fiskville everyone ran for the showers (well mainly the boys) us senior girls had our own on-suite so it was good. After the shower we had to go and have dinner. We had a 3 course meal that night because the big guns of CFA were there. On the bus we had to make a speech about "what did Challenge mean to us". So in between the meals we had the presentations. After Dinner was finished we had a class to go to with Carol. So as a team we walked up to the training centre and took our last class with Carol. When we got back to the main area in the pool room at about 2300hrs no one was tired so we all ended up dancing around and playing pool. Until about 0130hrs we all headed to bed.

Then our parents started arriving, again as a team we walked up to the training centre and our two representatives for Team Unity got up and made a speech, thanking everyone ETC. After the speech we were then presented with a certificate. After everything was finished there we went back down to the diner and had lunch. After everyone had finished we all stood in a circle and said our goodbyes. We have a reunion in May that we are all attending so we all look forward to that.

Participants:

Alan Edwards

Andrew White

Ash Brown

Dylan Hewitt

Graeme McCarthy

Jesse Sherman

Kathryn Sloan

Leesa Nitschke

Luke Commisso

Mark Caton (Leader)

Nadine Blyth

Nathan Freeman

Richard Evans

Ryan Pentreath

Sam Ainslie

Sarah Black

Teisha Fullex

Victoria Skase

Wayne Goodes

Dan (Outward Bound)

Nick (Outward Bound)

From Fire Sheds to Fire Station

by Barrie. J. Winzar

On November 4th 1903, a "Bush Fire Defence Association" was established in Goornong at a public meeting,

Two years later a fire shed was planned and built by locals in 1906 adjacent to the police station. The shed housed a cart with a 175 gallon tank (700 litres).

In 1917 a Furphy water tank was purchased to replace the cart.

In 1944, stands for two Furphy tanks were erected at the corner or Grant and Langdon streets - the original slip ons. The school bell was rang as a fire alert.

The Country Fire Authority was established in 1944 and local brigades functioned under... In 1947 Captain George Lawrence moved to apply for a truck and equipment. At that time tanks and equipment were disbursed geographically, eg: Lt Jack Clay at Bagshot, Lt C K Hyett at Fosterville.

Permisson was sought from the railways in 1951 to build a fire station across the road from
Ringe's Garage. Construction began in 1952 with all the work done by members, even making every cement brick. Many working bees were necessary!

Not until 1969 was water connected.

At the December meeting in 1978, Captain Gee advised that Goornong was to get a new steel shed fire station and the existing shed would be pulled down! However at the 1979 February meeting, Captain Gee brought to the attention of members the potential growth of Goornong, believing that it warranted the new fire shed be adequate for housing two tankers and perhaps an operations room. The CFA would be so advised! CFA Regional Officer G Summerton attended the next meeting apparently annoyed with the temerity of the Goornong Brigade in not accepting the style of shed allocated. Chairman Reg Westwood enquired as to why the Brigade was not consulted regarding the type of shed. The Regional Officer said that there were plenty of Brigades who would pick up the shed and erect it themselves and then went on to elaborate on what the CFA officers did. Lt Giffney however, pointed out that that was the trouble with the CFA, whereas "the ones who really did the work having no say at all". He went on to point out that the previous shed was built by volunteer labour. The Regional Officer was questioned further on whether he was prepared to try and get a bigger shed. Secretary at the time, Jack Robertson, recorded "R.O. Summerton in a complete change of mind, stated that he was prepared to try". Then B. Giffney moved and Don Symons seconded "that we ask the R. O. to make application for a 30ft x 30ft shed" carried.

However it was not until 1984 that a new shed was built with material supplied by CFA and constructed carried out by members under the leadership of Lt Brian Giffney.

After repeated requests to CFA a toilet building was delivered to the Fire Shed in 2001 and installed by Lt Brian Giffney with the assistance of members.

In 2010, Government funding provided for a Rolling Program Update, in which our Brigade was included.

The Brigade was instrumental in securing the new site, and a welcome change in policy enabled all construction to be carried out by contractors funded and supervised by CFA.

Its Official

Goornong has a new home - and it's in the form of a Station!!!



After hard work by many, the 24th September 2011, saw the Goornong Fire Brigade officially welcomed into its new home.

The sun was shining, the birds were singing and our new station was being thoroughly investigated by not only the local Goornong Brigade members but several of the local neighbouring Brigades who were in attendance to show their support.

 

Unforunately our new fearless leader Captain Tim McCrohan was unable to attend, but parting Captain David Patterson was brave enough to return to undertake the role of Master of Ceremonies...

After a fantastic overview of the brigades history by Barrie Winzar and several awards were given out (see future blogs for details), it was over to our fabulous nightowls who provided yet again a beautiful lunch.

The afternoon was spent having good times, catch ups and giving deserving pats on backs... After lots of hard work and planning, our fantastic new building is now our home!!! 



Oaks Day at Axedale

Sunday 22nd May is not usually associated with Oaks Day or for that matter Axedale (Region 2). However for 14 female fire fighters maybe there was some similarity.

A number of neighbouring brigades in Region 2 have for sometime been trying to organise a “ladies” training day, to recognise growing number of female operational members of Axedale and its neighbouring brigades. The day provided an opportunity to meet and discuss issues relating to female operational membership of brigades and engage in a number of training exercises. The brigades involved were Axedale, Junourton, Mosquito Creek and Goornong.
The day also included a presentation by the Peer Support Group (CISM) from Loddon Mallee Region.
Comments from the day showed the overwhelming success and benefits of organising this type of activity. Below are some of the comments;

“…the Peer Support lady gave a great relaxed presentation - she talked about support offered and the importance of this type of day to broaden friendships and confidence. For example she said that if we get called out to a campaign fire, then linking up with another lady that you have met here will make things easier........especially when we need to go to the loo in pairs!”

“…the day gave me the confidence to not hide behind the blokes (because they know how to do it....!!!!) but to step up and have a go. It also made me feel proud to be "One of the experienced ones" amongst the crew, and to actually step forward and show a few tricks of the trade. “


“.. I was also filled with pride and appreciation as Tim McCrohan (incoming Captain) described the growing female membership and the important role we play in the future of the brigade.”


“..the day was filled with learning and laughter and we all agreed that this should become a regular event.”


“…Highlight of the day was seeing Teish soaked and covered in mud with a grin from ear-to-ear after a fun-filled hose aiming skill game!”

A number of the more experienced members stepped up to take a mentoring role with the less experienced members and it was a pleasure to watch others shine after being involved in the day.

Activities for the day were varied and full of laughter and new friendships. The days training activities included important training exercises such as using the quick fill, floating collar tanks, draughting from overhead sources, hose and pump operation. Tim demonstrated the “clinker” from the Gilmac fire and talked about “preserving the scene”.
A big thankyou must go to the Axedale Brigade who organised the day and the trainers for the day – Peter Harkins (Axedale), Tim McCrohan – (Goornong), James Hickson – (Woodvale) and the LMR CISM team.
Final word for the day goes to Felicity

“..The day was bloody brilliant. Lots of great knowledge shared with a nice mix of giggle with Tim doing a great job describing our support for women in our brigades.”

65 Roses Day – 27 May 2011 'Seize the Day'

65 Roses Day – 27 May 2011
'Seize the Day'



As most of you are aware we have supported the Cystic Fibrosis Support Group in Bendigo over the last couple of years. May 27th is 65 Roses Day. The day hopes to raise awareness, understanding and support for the many sufferes of this condition. So anyone who reads our blog, I would urge you to visit the CF site find out about CF and donate to this worthwhile cause. The links are;
visit www.65rosesday.org.au or www.cfv.org.au
 
Captain Dave

Sunday 1st May marked the completion of the latest group completing minimum skills. 14 recruits became accredited - 8 of which were from Goornong.


The exciting thing is that of these 8 members - 6 are local farmers from our district.

With the completion of minimum skills we have 3 members with a total of 90 years experience in the CFA returned to the brigade, Peter and Kevin Howard and Ed English. Their knowledge and experience will be fantastic for the brigade.

On the day 2 of our trainers were also assessed.

This is the second minimum skills course we have run through Goornong in the last 18 months. This has helped increase our ranks by 16, and the courses have produced 28 volunteers in this 18 months.

It has been alot of hard work and special thanks to the following people - Dave Patterson, Denis Crowe, Tim McCrohan, Phil Challis (Bullengarook), Ewan Paton (Huntly) Andrew and Peter Polwarth (Bendigo).

Congratulations again to all involved.

Goornong now has over 40 accredited minimal skills fire fighters on our books...

Time to Change Your Batteries!!!!

Now Daylight savings has come to an end please don't forget to change the batteries on your smoke detectors!!!
Remember only a working smoke detectors can save lives....

Lifting of the Fire Danger Period

Well I guess its no surprise that there has been an announcement by the Chief Officer that a declaration ending the Fire Danger period has been announced. Officially the Fire Danger period will end at 1.00 pm on 7th March. I would still like to caution people that even with the rain we have seen a number of fires, exhibiting quite drastic fire behaviour. There is an added dimension for us as fire fighters in trying to contain fires on saturated paddocks and the real possibility of bogging fire trucks. So I urge everyone to exercise caution when burning off or using equipment outdoors. This brings me to my next concern and that is the increase in structure fires around the region so I would urge everyone to check there smoke detector. If anyone is not sure how please contact one of the brigade members and we will arrange for it to be checked.

Our new fire station is taking shape and going up quite rapidly. At the moment we expect to have the official opening in June or July and the Goornong community will be invited to celebrate with us on that occasion.

Thursday 3rd March marks the first night of our 2nd minimum skills course, with 8 people from Goornong participating. The course is designed to provide the skills needed to become an operational fire fighter and is extremely pleasing to see our ranks increasing with this and the last course we ran. Thank you to everyone who has put up their hands many of you have been active members in the past. It is also fantastic to see the increasing number of female and young people wishing to participate. Good luck to you all.

During May Elmore brigade will be celebrating a milestone in their history. More details will be posted as we have them but I am sure that everyone will join the Goornong Brigade in congratulating Elmore on its achievement.

Lastly I have been advised by the Bendigo Council that a Green waste collection bin has been put in the transfer station compound. At this point I have no further detail but will post information as I receive it.



Regards

Captain Dave

Who'll stop the rain and other song title's

Well December and January have come and gone with little fire activity in the Goornong assignment area (no great surprise really) and I was wondering if we perhaps should rename ourselves to the Goornong Coast Guard or Goornong CFA boat flotilla. We have had a number of call outs which have been for assistance with flood relief and a number of our volunteers have been on standby should they be needed for flood assistance. Up to this point we have not been used in that role but I would like to take this opportunity to thank not only all those that put up their hand but also to those that stayed around in case they were needed on home soil. Thankfully though most of the Goornong community has been spared major structraul damage, although I suspect a few crops and public assets have not been so lucky. Here are a couple of pictures of the Campaspe River and the Barnadown bridge damage. The Barnadown bridge damage did not become evident till many days after the flood water so it is a timely warning that even though the flood has dissipated there may be some delayed damage.

 

The brigade elections are coming up in April and I would urge all members to consider who they would like on the management team and forward the nominations to Flic before the March meeting. Our next minimum skill course will commence in March and its pleasing to see we have another 8 participants from the Goornong brigade. This is a fantastic effort and I have no doubt they will be a great asset to our brigade and the community. One last comment - Please be aware of the speed restriction and speed camera on the Bagshot Rail crossing. I have it on good authority that these are now fully functional.  All brigade vehicles (whether code 1, code 3 or weekly test) must comply with the signed speed limit.

Gilmac Hay shed fire

Well they say it never rains but it pours and the rains have certainly kept up which presents it’s own set of problems. We had to cancel our training day - un bogging trucks is not part of our normal training and we just didn’t have enough lighter fluid (or napalm) to actually get anything to burn. Then Friday morning (3.17 am to be exact) the page came through – fire at Gilmacs hay processing Comer Lane Goornong. For the uninitiated this is one of the biggest hay processing plants in Victoria and as luck would have it the fire was in the smallest shed containing 3000 tonnes of premium hay bound for export.

As our crews arrived it was clear that the structure was fully involved and the decision to make tankers 6 and pumpers two was transmitted to Vic fire. The biggest concern for the crew and incident controller (Tim) was the processing plant. It was already showing signs of heat distress from the radiant heat. Tim and the crew did a fantastic job with only superficial damage to the wall of the processing plant. The shed containing the hay was too far gone so it became an asset protection and containment exercise. In the end there were 12 appliances including the ladder platform from Bendigo. The rain over the preceding weeks provided a further complication as the access to the water sources was virtually mud. Many thanks to the crews from our neighbouring brigades for their prompt support and assistance. The shed continued to burn for the next 4 days and the final bill being around 1.5 million dollars.

Code 1 Trivia night

Friday night (19th Nov) saw the inaugural Code 1 Trivia night take place at Goornong. The night is organised by the brigade to support the Cystic Fibrosis Support Group. This group provides support and assistance to families with children suffering from cystic fibrosis inn the Bendigo region. (More information can be obtained at http://www.cysticfibrosisaustralia.org.au/ )


Around 80 people participate in the night from a variety of locations and back grounds with a meal provide by the local hotel. Our organisers were overwhelmed by the generosity of sponsors as well as the interest shown in attending the night. To all those who missed out I have been assured the event will return bigger and better next year. The overall winners for the night were the Goanna’s team whose name will now go down for posterity on the Code 1 Trivia night trophy. Whilst the final tally for the funds raised is still being tallied it seems we will have in excess of $1000.00 for the support group and their activities. A fantastic result and a real credit to Denis and Peter from the brigade, whose brain child this was and who ran with the initiative. And many thanks to those who supported and participated in the night. Anyone who would like to assist the support group please contact the brigade and we will give you the contact details. And a big thanks goes to Teisha and Kate who ran the Kids corner for the night.

Finally thanks to our sponsors who assisted us with making the night a success.

Junior Volunteer Development Program - Hattah

One of the brigades younger members was successful in being accepted to participate in the Junior Development Program held at Hattah recently. Teisha wrote about her experiences and presented a report to our recent brigade meeting. It is obvious to me the benefits to our younger members in participating in activities such as this.

Below is Teisha's dairy:


"Day 1: On the morning of the 20th of September 2010, 16 people from around the district 2 and from the surrounding districts. 6 of the 16 people caught the plane from Bendigo, there were 2 planes, 1 plane going to Echuca to pick 5 people up and the 2nd plane went to Maryborough to pick up another 3 people. Both planes then continued onto Mildura airport, we then got on a bus as a group of 14 people. We stopped at Redcliff to pick up 2 girls then we continued to Hattah Kulkyne national park, where Sextons home stead is, that is where we are staying for the 4days. When we got to Sextons Homestead we met the 4 leaders, Carol (who was our theory Leader), Michel (our practical Leader), Pam (who we called mum), Bernie (Our practical Leader), then there was Stan who did the cooking for us. Once we unpacked and every one had runners on we had to meet in the chuck house (where we ate), Michel then told us that we were playing a game called Chaos, then Spaceship stepping stones. Then we did some theory work and we were given a block of wood that we had to carry around with us until we wrote a submission letter to our leaders. The block of wood was our ‘baggage’, we had to write our burdens on it. After the theory work we had free time until 7 that is when we had tea. I made good friends with 3 others so we decided to go for a walk in the bush to see what is around. Then there was tea then we had a camp fire then free time again.


Day 2: We got woken up at 7.15, breakfast was at 7.30 then we were playing Chaos at 8.00 and spaceships at 8.30. Chaos and spaceships are our morning and afternoon game that we do every day. We then got right into rock climbing, then more theory until lunch time. After lunch we as a team decided to write the submission letter about our ‘Baggage’. It took us all afternoon to write it because we still had to do the other activities that they had planned for us. We then went outside and split into 2 groups, my group went over the where the giant swing and the other group went over to the rock climbing wall. Neither group had a any idea what we were doing, then Bernie brought over 15 milk creates while we were putting on our gear. My first shot I only got 2 because I couldn’t get my leg up high enough cause it was tapped, the second go I got to 10 creates then I calmed my creates and jumped. We then did more theory and then had free time till tea, so we finished off our submission then we handed it in. The submission past so we didn’t have to carry around our ‘baggage’ around with us anymore. Later that night after tea we had a ceremony for our ‘baggage’ then we had to go into the HAMS Integrity to get split into groups to do different activities, these included, 6 figure map points, map reading, compass work and radios.

We then had an early night because we knew that we were going to be doing the night mission thing. We got woken up at about 11.20 and we had to be in the integrity by 11.30pm to discuss what was going to happen. Right on midnight we set out to go for our roughly 6km round walk. The mission included, getting us to the T-intersection on the Murray River. From there we had to locate 2 packages, we found them, 1 bag was 10 life jackets and the other was 8 paddles for a canoe. We then split into 2 groups a walking group and a canoeing group. We had to get half way and locate a flashing device and that is where we had to swap but before that we had to make fire and take a picture of us. Then my group got into the canoe and paddled the rest of the way to camp. We then went into the Integrity to solve a puzzle with was in a shape of a T but it was in like 5 pieces and it isn't very easy at 4.40am Wednesday morning to do. But we managed to do it then we got to go to bed.

Day 3: We got to sleep in till 10am but I was already awake at 7. After bacon and egg for breakfast we played Chaos and spaceships, then we went in for a debrief about the night mission. Then we went and did the Flying Possum. That is where there is 4 off the line at once, 1 person is going up the wall and the other 3 are watching the other 12 of us are connected to a rope and we have to pull the person that is attached up the wall in how ever many bounces they want. My first go was 5 the second go it was 2 jumps. Then we did some more theory work. After the theory work of setting our goals we were allowed to go out and go on the giant swing, it was so fun. One person was out on a pontoon and they had to catch balls as we were throwing them from up in the air after we had pulled the pin. Then we had tea and did more theory work then we had "warm and fuzzy night" and watched a movie, then we all went to bed.

Day 4: We had to get up early so it was a 7.20 start, breaky was at 7.30 and our chaos game was at 8 and spaceships was at 8.30. We finally complete spaceships, took us all 4 days but we got there in the end. After we finished that we had another mission that we had to complete. The mission was, there are acid balls that have risen from out of the group and to prevent them from getting into the water way and contaminating Mildura's and Adelaide's water. We split ourselves up into 3 groups, group 1, group 2 and group 3. 1 person out of group one would be attached to 2 pulley systems, one rope that pulls you straight up and the other one that pulls you to the side. The goal was to get the acid balls out without touch the group otherwise you had 30secs to get the acid ball into the safe tube then you would be dead, no one died. After we completed that mission we had a debrief then we had lunch then it was time to go. We packed up the bus then boarded after saying good bye to the leaders.
On the way to Hattah the bus ride was soooo quite but on the way back we were really noisy, singing songs, talking loudly, mucking around. Thanks to all the participants and leaders.


Andy - Knowsley       Blair - Marong        Teisha - Goornong       Katelyn - Tongala     Dominic - Echuca    Matt - Echuca


Elliot - Stanhope        Amber - Stanhope   Cassy - Eaglehawk       Brett - Castlemaine    Brendan - Kyneton 

Seany - Woodend      Jayden - Maryborough   Krystin - Mt Cameron      Isabel - Red Cliffs     Avalon - Red Cliffs"

The Big Wet

And it started raining – and kept raining and now instead of drought we have floods. Here are a couple of pictures of the Russel’s Bridge river crossing. From my memory it has been about 10 to 12 years since we have seen water over this low level bridge on the Campaspe River. Looking around our patch at the water in Crab Hole creek and other areas I reckon its been a similar time since I have seen that. Its great to see and the flushing of the rivers and creeks will be a good thing. Many of the CFA volunteers have been assisting the SES and their communities in flood relief works.


As far as the brigade goes there have been only a couple of small incidents. We are now into September and we will be starting to get busy again with training and Fire Danger Period preparedness. The Whipstick group will be holding a group exercise in early October.

The brigade will also commence some fuel reduction burns around the town during October and November. Residents are advised that there will be smoke around the town as we commence these burns. Our immediate priorities will be to clear the large mounds of trees and debris in the recreation reserve. These will burn for days but present a serious hazard to the community in a fire situation. We need to complete these burns to ensure the safety of the town during the fire season.

We have also been advised the Goornong Fire Brigade and community are to receive a new Fire station. It is expected the new station will be completed around April/May 2011. Given the amount of development around the Goornong Assignment area this is welcome news and will be an asset for the community and an investment in the future.

Lastly congratulation to Teisha F on being accepted for the develpment and leadership development course.

The Quiet Months!!!!!!

June through to November is supposed to be the quiet months for us but this year has been pretty busy (by our standards). The turn up for events has been great with many of our new members getting their yellow suits good and dirty. Probably the biggest event was the fire at Okie Dokie farm with a fire in the historic homestead. The property has had a variety of owners and names including John Farnham. Crews from Goornong, Elmore, Huntly, Bendigo and Toolleen fought the blaze. It had well and truly taken hold by the time 000 were notified. The crews did a fantastic job in containing the fire and mopping. Thanks also to the Red Cross for breakfast and coffee. It is probably the most significant incident for the brigade so far this year. The other significant incident was a fire in the ventilation shaft at the Fosterville Mine which Goornong, Huntly, Bendigo and Axedale attended. Pictured is the Okie Dokie fire.

Crews mopping up after the fire

Lastly the Junior Brigade launch has been postponed for a few months to allow us to better prepare for the commencement of activities. We felt we weren’t quite in a position to make the best effort possible to make it a success. We will keep you posted on the progress and hopefully we will be announcing a start date in the near future.

Thanks to all our volunteers and those that have supported us from other brigades over the past few months.

Junior Brigade is on the move

Well we have got past most of the hurdles to commence our Junior Brigade. We will be holding an information session at the Goornong Rec Reserve on Tuesday 27th July at 7.00pm. Anyone aged 11 to 15 years old and interested should talk to their parents and come along to the meeting on the 27th (with parent/guardian). At this point if we get enough interested the Juniors will meet once a month and will have a number of activities planned including game nights, excursions, first aid, plus much much more.
Any one interested please email us for more details.