Burning to serve

By Kelly Yates
MORE than 80 people attended the Narre Warren Fire Brigade’s annual awards night last weekend.
The achievements of firefighters were recognised at the event, which was held at the Fountain Gate Hotel from 6.30pm to 10pm.
Firefighter Phil Sandell, 20, was announced as “firefighter of the year,” which is only presented to operational members of the brigade and is often determined by the commitment, dedication and leadership demonstrated by the Narre Warren firefighters.
The Dorothy Balcombe award, which recognises members who have put in a lot of effort and work behind the scenes at the brigade, was presented to Paul Harmes during the awards night.
Fourth Lieutenant Tony Bundock said the Dorothy Balcombe award didn’t necessarily reflect the number of turnouts, trainings or meetings a member had attended – but rewarded those who contributed to the brigade.
The Gordon Story award was presented to Margaret Tinschert, while the Captain’s Award went to operations officer Cliff O’Connor.
The Captain’s award was established in 2005 to recognise invaluable assistance given to the captain of the Narre Warren Fire Brigade.
A number of CFA service awards, the Narre Warren Fire Brigade service awards and the Narre Warren Fire Brigade turnout awards were also handed out on the night.
Former Narre Warren Fire Brigade captain David Beards scored a life membership to the brigade.
Fourth Lieutenant Bundock said the evening was also sponsored by a number of companies who kindly donated gifts for the raffle.
“We are extremely grateful for their support,” he said.
He said not everyone was able to fully relax at the awards night.
“We had a duty crew on standby in case of fire calls,” he said.
“This was made up of myself, Karen Bundock, Mark Turnham, John Sandell and Janice Turrif. But despite a sobering diet of orange juice, we didn’t get any calls.”