CFA (Country Fire Authority)

Brigade members were joined by volunteers from 14 other CFA brigades to celebrate their centenary year, with local pipe bands and historic fire trucks making it a celebration for the whole community. Captain Richard Gardner said a highlight was having a restored Austin Series 3 front-mounted pumper attend, which had previously served as Whittlesea’s Pumper for approximately 9 years.

This September for Youth Fest 2026 we are Celebrating our Youth, highlighting the contributions and achievements of young people in our CFA community. Yarrawonga Fire Brigade Junior Leader Renee Parks said the welcomed boost has been a big jump from the five they started with last year when they re-ignited the junior program for the first time in 20 years. “We kept our recruitment and awareness activities pretty similar to last year, which included a couple of school visits,” Renee said.

The delivery of these tankers will provide members with enhanced firefighting equipment to support operations across the Macedon Ranges and surrounding communities. Captain of the brigade, Simon Hayward, said they were very thankful to receive a VESEP grant which helped to fund the ultralight tanker. “We want to say a huge thank you to community members, local organisations, volunteers and supporters whose ongoing commitment helps further equip our brigade,” he said.

The quickest and easiest way to register your burn-off is by using the Fire Permits Victoria website at www.firepermits.vic.gov.au/notify. While Spring is an opportune time for landowners and residents to take advantage of the favourable weather to undertake burning off activities, more than 62 per cent of burn-off registrations in Victoria are still coming through via phone.

Team CFA contributed 339 whole blood donations, 593 plasma donations, and 29 donations of platelets, totalling 961 donations and beating our total from last year. CFA’s efforts bought them in at 4th place. Victoria Police took out the top spot again this year with a total of 1408 donations, followed by the NSW Police force with 1394 donations, and Tasmania’s Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management team who came in third with 1189 total donations.

Smoking materials accounted for almost one in four (24%) of fire related fatalities in 2025, where the cause of fire was able to be identified. Since 1 January 2026, CFA and FRV have responded to a combined 252 residential fires involving abandoned or discarded materials, including cigarettes and cigars. CFA and FRV are urging people to avoid smoking indoors, never smoke in bed and ensure cigarettes are fully extinguished before being discarded.

Firefighter Frawley, Firefighter Ross, Firefighter Brown Firefighter Ethan Brown from Trentham Fire Brigade, Firefighter Imogen Ross from Linton Fire Brigade and Firefighter Lachie Frawley from Haddon Fire Brigade took part in the challenge at Scenic World in Katoomba on Saturday, 29 August. Firefighter Ross completed the climb for the second year in a row.

The residents had only returned home minutes earlier when they were alerted to a fire caused by an unattended pot left on the stove, triggering the interconnected smoke alarms throughout the house. The homeowner investigated upstairs, discovered the stovetop and nearby appliances on fire and promptly called Triple Zero (000).

Photo, Fire Wise Kids program in action by CFA staff member Siobhan Greene, won its category. The Victorian Resilient Australia Awards ceremony was hosted by Emergency Management Victoria (EMV) on Monday 31 August, with the winners and highly commended projects announced by Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch ESM. CFA’s Schools in Fire Country was named a winner, while the Get Fire Ready campaign was highly commended.

His son Ollie, aged 18, is now continuing the legacy and is attending turnouts alongside his dad, who couldn’t be prouder. Lachie “I’ve come from a CFA family, so to see Ollie start at CFA was really rewarding. It's nice to have him involved. There’s a lot of things I’m proud of that he’s done. When he finished his General Firefighter, that was great. I knew he was going to breeze through it, but it was a nice feeling that he got there. On 9 January this year, we had a big day up at the Harcourt fire.