By JOLENE OGLE
LOCAL Ian Pike will today be honoured for his 30 years of volunteer fire fighting service when he receives the Queen’s Fire Service Medal.
While the award means Mr Pike can now put the initials QFSM after his name and attend a lavish ceremony in Canberra, Ian, 69, said he was simply humbled to have been recognised for his hard work.
“(Receiving the medal) doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t make a difference as far as the day-to-day running of things,” he said.
“But it is good to know you have been appreciated for the hard work you put in.”
Ian fell into the volunteer rural fire service 30 years ago when he was a dairy farmer in the Mary Valley.
“In those days we didn’t have any equipment and we all used our tractors. So all the farmers were just basically part of (the rural fire brigade),” he said.
“We had a tank that fitted on the back as a spray unit. And most of the tractors had a blade on the front. The first truck came here in 1994. But today, you would be lucky enough to get two tractors in the area.”
During his 30 years of voluntary service, Ian has attended more rural and urban fires than he could count, including 24 fires in the last 12 months.
Ian was also part of the team who worked throughout the night to help stop the bushfire behind the sports stadium in Sunrise Beach last year.
“We’ve had some big fires, being called out to Kingaroy and places like that. But you don’t really recall them. You get them done and head home,” he said.
Ian is still active in the service and is busy holding down four roles – fire warden, first officer of the Federal brigade, Noosa group officer and area representative for Caloundra for the Rural Fire Brigade.
Throughout 30 years of service and countless fires, Ian said his greatest achievement hasn’t happened yet, but it’s not far away.
“(My greatest achievement) will be building the fire station at Federal,” he said.
“It’s been an ongoing plan for 20 years but the base earthworks are done.”
The planned station will include a four-bay shed that will house Federal’s three trucks as well as a training room and volunteer amenities.
For Ian, fighting fires and saving lives is all part of the job and it doesn’t look as thought he will be slowing down any time soon.
Ian joins Ian Young of Peregian Springs who was awarded an OAM for service to surf lifesaving and the Noosa community as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours today.
See this week’s Noosa Today for Mr Young’s story.
