Dean Cox has been named the Werribee Fire Brigade’s Firefighter of the Year. He has lived in Wyndham for more than four decades.
How did you get involved with the Werribee Fire Brigade (Werribee CFA)?
I joined in 2012. My daughter Olivia joined the junior brigade when she was 12, she’s 22 now. I saw how the brigade was doing such a good job with Olivia, the positive input that it was having, so it encouraged me to join up.
Did Olivia have any advice for you, when you joined up?
She did have some words of wisdom, but she was always more advanced in her fire skills than me. There have been jobs where I’ve been driving the truck and she’s been in the back. I remember my first job, I drove the truck with the sirens going because it was a code one emergency. When I got to the job, I got out to get the water going, and I was so excited I forgot to turn the siren off. Olivia had to tell me to turn the sirens off.
What do you enjoy about being involved with the CFA?
I think it’s challenging yourself to perform, to want to be a team member – you want to be a valuable member. I think whenever we get the truck out, we’re there to give 100 per cent. Besides fires, we get called out to road accidents and various rescue jobs.
We also do a lot of community work, we do a lot of kindergarten visits and the Scouts and that kind of thing. I think one of the values here is that we’re always learning.
Also, I enjoy the opportunity to share quality time with one of my daughters and make a lot of good friends. The people around this place make it what it is. We train Monday nights, but we have people who train at extra sessions too, because they want to make sure we’re on top of everything we need to know, which shows the dedication of the members.
How long have you lived in Werribee, and what else do you do, apart from volunteering with the CFA?
I’ve lived in Werribee for 46 years with my wife and later, my two daughters. I have a long involvement with the Werribee Centrals. I’m the junior coach co-ordinator of the Werribee Districts Football Club. I still spend one or two nights a week there and on Sundays I watch junior football.
For years, I worked for a slate roofing company and I would teach TAFE sessionally. They then offered me a job, and I’m coming up to my 15 years there. In 2005, I was awarded a Churchill Fellowship, which was pretty special. I was able to travel the world to study slate roofs. I’m still on the committee for the Churchill Fellows’ Association of Victoria.
