Bendigo Bank are hoping to raise funds and public appreciation for the fire fighters of Apollo Bay. This year, the Apollo Bay Fire Brigade is the equivalent of the bank’s ‘hero’ product and they want to buy our heroes a quad bike to help make some of their jobs easier.
They asked me to nip round to Meloney Dacey-Howell’s house to ask her about her role as the partner of one of the firey’s and how it affects her life. An hour later I went home quite a different person, my head spinning with thanks for all that the Apollo Bay Fire Brigade stand for and gratefulness for the sacrifices that families in this town make in order that we are all looked after.
Dave is the captain of the brigade and I realise that I have only seen him a few times in my years in Apollo Bay. The thing about the work of a firey is that it all goes on either behind closed doors, away down the road, or in wide open spaces and rarely happens in front of all our eyes. The fire station itself is tucked away round the back and Father Christmas’s arrival in a gleaming red truck at the Kinder is the closest I have had to understanding what the fireys do (thank God).
Meloney began and finished making dinner in the space of five minutes when I arrived, putting an egg and bacon pie in the oven before we sat down. She is as efficient as the best domestic goddess because she has to be; she never knows when the call will come in for Dave to go out, it’s no longer an inconvenience but a way of life.
Commitment is a word that springs up and stays in our conversation from the beginning. There are these people in our town who are committed to our safety like Guardian Angels. I dare to ask whether they receive any financial incentives for their risky actions and Mel’s eyes widen as she says (and please read this bit over twice) ‘Being a member of the CFA in Apollo Bay is 100% voluntary’.
‘So your partner and his fellow members are risking their lives for us, sacrificing time with their families, keeping up with their training schedules, lobbying for grants, reporting, emailing and being ready to down tools at any moment without even getting a token of our thanks in their wallets?’
‘That’s right’ Meloney says and she goes on to praise all the employers of fireys for allowing their employees to miss ‘real’ work for the work of the CFA.
‘Are they still getting paid for their real work when they are away with the CFA?’ I ask.
‘Oh no, you wouldn’t expect them to.’
‘So, these men and women who take their own lives in their hands to save others and who expect their own families to understand their calling, not only don’t get paid but lose pay, because of the critical needs of the rest of us in the community. Is that true?’
Mel nods and smiles and tells me that as a former member of the CFA herself she knows why her husband and everyone else do it and it isn’t for any financial reward. She says it is for the sheer satisfaction of knowing that you have made a big difference to someone’s life or that you have actually saved someone’s life. That is satisfaction in itself and is at the very basis of the calling to be a firey.
She sees her own role now as a sounding board for the captain of the fire brigade and a support behind the scenes. He and his crew head out to the suicide, the cliff rescue, the car crash, the fire, without a second thought for themselves and then return to their normal lives having seen things which we hope we never do. She knows that Dave thinks he is lucky to have a family to go back to as that keeps him on the straight and narrow but he does worry sometimes about those fireys without a back up crew at home. Some of the things that they see can change them and the CFA have counselling programmes to help everyone cope. The fact that our fire brigade is also our SES means that double stress is put on our volunteers.
I ask whether she ever worries about Dave’s safety when he is gone and she says that she knows that he has an excellent team of men and women whom he trusts implicitly and who are trained in safety to the nth degree. They train twice a week when the rest of us are resting.
We chat away about when her first baby was three weeks old; Dave went to fight the fires in Sydney leaving his Mum and Aunty as support for a week. Another time, a call at Christmas dinner meant that six of the twelve diners upped and left the turkey (there are a few fireys in Dave’s family).
One point that Mel really wants to get across is that none of the fireys have tickets on themselves. They are all modest in their heroism and they find it to be a very fulfilling role to have. That in itself is their reward and she doesn’t want me to be paying homage to them like they are Supermen and Wonderwomen.
But she can forget that. On the 20th of November there is going to be a fundraising event held in this town to celebrate the work that our quiet, modest “Super-wonder-heroes” do and we must dig deep into our pockets to help them buy equipment to make their lives easier. The Bendigo Bank have said they will match whatever we raise although the appearance of a firey in times of great need is almost priceless.
Mel says that Dave would dearly like to buy some lightweight tools for the fire station because cliff rescues are hampered by the weight of heavy hydraulic pumps and cutting equipment.
I pray that I never lose control of my car and end up on the rocks below Cape Patton but if I did, the face I would want to see first would be that of an Apollo Bay fire brigade volunteer. They are like earth-angels ensuring that we don’t get to meet the heavenly version too soon. Thank you so much to the partners, families and friends of the fireys for ensuring that their wings keep working for our sakes.
By Annabel Tellis
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