By Margaret Maccoll
A neighbourhood meeting held 27 years ago following a Cooroibah bush fire led to the establishment of its Rural Fire Service but the volunteer group now aged in their 70s and 80s want others to take it over.
First officer Ben Johns said the group of about a dozen hoped to amalgamate with the service at Tinbeerwah which had about 28 volunteer officers.
Ben said the service’s fire truck had been based at John’s Landing until the property was sold to council last year and has since found a new base on MacKinnon Drive.
“A lot of the volunteers came from Johns Landing,” Ben said.
“If there was a fire I’d put the siren on in the truck and by the time I was ready there were people there to help.”
In the predominantly rural area it was bush fires the service attended, sometimes assisting the urban units with house fires.
Ben’s wife Pat said over the years the group had conducted many preventive burn offs, when conditions were right, and this had reduced the potential for large bush fires in the area.
“People who wanted to burn their paddocks to stop the big fires coming through contacted us,” she said.
Volunteers will be given personal protection equipment and all relevant training and assessment in order for you to become a competent and qualified Rural Fire Fighter. Residents over the age of 18 who are interested in joining as a fire fighter or in a non-operational capacity should contact the Area Director QFES Rural Fire Service Caloundra on 5420 7517.
