By Alesha Capone
Fifty-one members of the Werribee Fire Brigade have been recognised for five to 60 years of service with the CFA.
Many of the dedicated volunteers said they became firefighters like their fathers before them – such as Daniel May, who received a 25 year award.
“I’ve been a member since I was 11 joining the junior brigade,” he said.
“I was inspired to join due to my father joining after Ash Wednesday.”
Crew leader Belinda Craig, who received a 30 year award, said she also joined the juniors at age 11, following in her father’s footsteps.
Since then, she has gone from being the only female in the Werribee brigade to one of about 19 women nowadays.
Second Lieutenant and brigade training officer Paul Ryan – another 30 year awardee – is the son of John Ryan, who has served the brigade for 54 years,
Philip Trifilo, 35 year award recipient, said that across the years Werribee has grown “from a little country suburb to the large city we know today”.
“I enjoy the camaraderie and the friendships that exist in the brigade, it’s like an extended family,” he said.
“My two sons Dominic and Michael are also in the brigade since they were juniors and are now in their late twenties.”
Former captain Noel Squires, a 40 year veteran, said he attended his first fire at the age of 16, in Toolern Vale.
“I find it very satisfying to be involved with the Werribee Fire Brigade, CFA and the interactions with many people I have across the state,” he said.
Husband and wife Darryl and Barbara Wells have received their 60 and 55 year awards, respectively.
Mrs Wells is a Werribee Fire Brigade Auxiliary life member, while Mr Wells has held several positions including every officer’s position.
He was captain for 33 years, the longest time a person has served in the role, and spent 15 years as a supervisor working with water bombing aircraft.
Mrs Wells said that during 1968, she and Mr Wells had a remote CFA radio in their kitchen.
“I was deputy communications officer for the brigade and the Mount Cottrell Group during the 1969 Lara/Tarneit fires, it was a busy time in my kitchen,” Mrs Wells said.
She said that as Werribee has grown, the brigade – and thus the auxiliary – has become among the busiest in the state.
“The friendships I have made from the auxiliary have lasted for many years, some that have gone from one generation to the next,” she said.
Mr Wells is presently a senior firefighter in the brigade, responsible for monitoring all the fire alarms within the area.
“When I first joined in 1962, we attended 30 to 40 calls a year, they were either house fires, shed fires, car fires or grass fires – false alarms, or hoax calls, were very rare,” he said.
“Now we do up to 900 calls a year that includes all the fires you can imagine, plus in 1969 the brigade began performing road crash rescue that eventually included all types of rescues.
“We now attend almost as many rescue calls as fire calls.”
Mr Wells said that one of the most memorable blazes he has attended was the fire at the Chirnside homestead off Edgar Street, known as The Manor, in 1966.
Others he remembers include the 1969 grass fires that stretched from Tarneit to Brooklyn; the 1982 fire at the former Station Street picture theatre; the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires; and a Werribee Racecourse grandstand fire.
“It has been a rewarding and sometimes exciting lifetime in the CFA/brigade, a life I have enjoyed and would not change,” he said.
Mr and Mrs Wells’ son, Michael, has been brigade captain for a decade and their grand-daughter Ella will move up to the senior brigade after her 16th birthday later this year, after five years on the junior brigade.
“I am a very proud wife, mother, and grandmother,” Mrs Wells said.
Table of awards:
Five years of service:
Sarah Chapman
Michael Lambert
Jacinta Savory
Amelia Zulian
Braden Looker-Gillett
Jamie Staggard
Andrew Matthewman
Vilma Trifilo
Vito Trifilo
Brodie Ogluszko
Aiden Trifilo
Scott Sinclair
Alannah Inglis
Adam Petrov
Ten years of service:
Jason Inglis
Simon Roberson
Lisa Bubb
Rohan Rizzoli
Rohan Ford
Dylan Brittian
Tim Pallas
Fifteen years of service:
Dominic Trifilo
Jim Blight
Pauline Blight
Twenty years of service:
Scott Green
Brett Menzies
Stephen Donaghy
Mick Davie
Twenty-five years of service:
Mark Mannix
Brett Packer
Anthony Hill
Daniel May
Malcolm Faldon
Thirty years of service:
Paul Ryan
Robert Mitchell
Christopher Higgs
Peter Aldersea
Adrian Kendall
Peter May
Belinda Craig
Thirty-five years of service:
Donald Craig
Mary Craig
Philip Trifilo
Forty years of service:
Noel Squires
Sean Brittian
Forty-five years of service:
Robert Mummery
George Andrews
Fifty years of service:
Leslie Hannath
Fitfy-five years of service:
John Phillips
Barbara Wells
Sixty years of service:
Darryl Wells
