By CASEY NEILL
NOBLE Park Fire Brigade recruits have trained alongside the CFA’s chief officer.
Euan Ferguson joined 15 firefighter-hopefuls at Ross Reserve on 9 September, following a CFA-first recruit course targeting diverse backgrounds.
“The chief officer was very impressed and undertook the course on the night,” Southern Metro Region brigade support officer Matthew Pond said.
“He was pretty happy to see the diversity that’s growing in the brigade.
“We had to be very careful initially not to come across and to be seen as too authoritative because of the countries where some of the refugees and asylum seekers had come from.
“The recruits are working very well as a team.”
Mr Pond worked with Red Cross and AMES to facilitate the recruitment information sessions and said the new recruits should be turning out by November.
“Then it’s an ongoing process. You never stop learning in the fire brigade,” he said.
“You get your basic skills and once you complete the basics you progress on and pick up other competencies.
“They’ll be ready to go out and be mentored by some of the more senior members.
“This fire season they should be around to support the brigade.”
Mr Pond said it was an exciting time for the brigade.
“I started with the brigade in January and their membership was about 19,” he said.
“Now they’re just shy of 50.
“It has been very much a change in attitude and approach and recognising the fact that we’ve got over 120 different cultures in the Noble Park community.”
He said the CFA was a community and volunteer-based organisation.
“We need to be reflective of the community,” he said.
Mr Pond said the diverse crew would also help to support community engagement.
“We’re becoming self-sufficient,” he said.
The crew was due to attend a Latin American festival at Sandown over the weekend.
“For the first time, the brigade’s able to provide its own translators,” he said.
“We have two Chileans and a person from Spain as well.
“This is going to be endless. We’ve got about 15 different languages now.”
Mr Pond said this latest membership drive was stage four of a 10-stage process to create a stronger brigade, which until July had declined to the point where it couldn’t run independently.
