By CASEY NEILL
KEYSBOROUGH’S Keith Pakenham has dedicated more than 30 years of his life to the CFA.
His efforts were recognised with an Australian Fire Service Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List on 8 June.
“It was a bit of a surprise. It wasn’t something I was expecting at all,” he said.
“I accept it on behalf of a lot of CFA members who don’t get noticed.
“I’m probably only noticed because I take the odd photo or two.”
That’s quite the understatement – Mr Pakenham is the official CFA photographer and travels around Victoria to capture fires and incidents.
He carried an old 35 millimetre camera in his turnout gear in the early days.
“At the end of a fire I’d snap a few photos,” he said.
“When everybody went home to sleep I’d start up the computer and go to the dark room.”
He’d then drive to the Journal’s office in Walker Street in Dandenong with his notes and images, drive back home for 30 minutes’ sleep and head to work as an electronics engineer.
“The CFA were the quiet achievers,” he said.
“People would have no idea what was going on.
“It was just a way of getting the story out there and letting people know what we’d managed to achieve overnight.”
Aside from his photography role, Mr Pakenham has served in a range of positions since being appointed as Apparatus Officer in 1991.
He progressed through the officer ranks to become Noble Park Fire Brigade captain in 1999, a position he held until transferring to Dandenong in 2003 where he regularly fulfils crew or sector command roles.
He received a National Medal and a National Emergency Medal for his dedicated efforts during the Black Saturday campaign.
Mr Pakenham joined the CFA in 1984 after marrying and moving to Keysborough.
“I was a member of St John Ambulance as a cadet,” he said.
“I was looking to join another community organisation. I picked the CFA.
“You become part of a new extended family.
“Being in the CFA is interesting and exciting
“You get involved in all sorts of things, not just bushfires.”
Mr Pakenham said he’d seen more than his fair share of factories go up in smoke and had enjoyed travelling interstate and joining strike teams.
On the lighter side, he helped to rescue a kitten from a wall cavity at the Sandown Hotel and freed many people from locked toilets.
He recalled one unlucky groom-to-be who was handcuffed to traffic lights on Princes Highway in Springvale at 3am while out on his buck’s night.
“It was winter and he was a bit blue when we got him,” he said.
“Someone called the police but they were good cuffs, even the police couldn’t undo them.
“We had to come in with bolt cutters.”
Through the laughs and the tragedies, Mr Pakenham’s wife Susan has supported him.
“You cook tea and pop it on the table and say ‘tea’s ready’ and the pager goes off and he runs away for a few hours,” she said.
Mr Pakenham interjected: “Our best friend is the microwave.”
“He’s come home to a lot of cold dinners,” Mrs Pakenham said.
