It was an exciting morning recently for some little people in Boggabri when the Fire and Rescue 229 station held its open day.
Written information on household fire precautions and safety issues was available and the children were given a colouring-in book and a helmet.
The visitors were able to view state of the art equipment and a highlight for some of the little people was seeing the flashing lights and hearing the siren but helping to hold the hose as water streamed was great fun.
Others put their helmets on and enjoyed climbing up into the cabin to see the view.
It was also a time for Rural Fire Service volunteers and the local paramedics to catch up and check out the latest equipment used by the Boggabri Fire and Rescue crew.
“The open day is an excellent opportunity to showcase the great work that our Boggabri members carry out in the community and to let community members know that we are recruiting retained firefighters,” captain Brian King said.
Hot on the heels of the successful open day, Tuesday evening Boggabri station members hosted a visit from Deputy Commissioner from Fire and Rescue NSW Jeremy Fewtrell.
Mr Fewtrell was accompanied by Gary McKinnon – Chief Inspector, Stephen Brown – Inspector and Acting Superintendent, Tom Cooper – Zone Commander.
Mr Fewtrell is responsible for all Fire and Rescue stations across NSW.
He is keen to visit and support each station, their members as they in turn look after their community, families and employers.
He encourages community members to become a on-call retained firefighter in Boggabri.
“Members learn valuable and useful skills that can be transferred to other areas such as your employment. Because we are fire and rescue you might undertake, fire suppression – both house and bush fires, attend bushfires, hazardous material response, rescue operations including motor vehicle accidents, community education and fire prevention activities as well as storm and flood damage assistance.
“At present we have six vacancies at Boggabri and coming into the busiest time of the year I encourage people to join up.
“The job is open to men and women.
“Over the past five years we have encouraged women to join and at present we have 11 per cent of members across NSW that are women.
“It suits women who may be home during the day while the children are at school. It is a great job, has good networks and support always available,” he said.
Tom Cooper is the Zone Commander and is keen to have a safety visit to all homes in Boggabri.
“We can make safety suggestions, check your escape plan in case of fire, check smoke alarms, talk to little ones about fire safety, and of course that is the highlight of the open days, they love the engine, lights and sirens,” he said.
Those interested in becoming a retained fire fighter can contact the Boggabri station.
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