Tatura volunteer Charlotte Freemantle is among a growing number of younger people signing up to join the CFA.
The CFA is continuing its push for more volunteers to join brigades across the state.
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Last year CFA launched the successful ‘Give Us a Hand’ recruitment campaign, which saw more than 1800 new members recruited across Victoria.
The CFA says regional and rural communities are still very much in need of more volunteers, particularly daytime responders and young members.
The organisation is also keen to support more Indigenous members.
Charlotte Freemantle is among a growing number of younger people signing up to join the CFA, with 55 per cent of new recruits in the past 12 months falling into the 18 to 44 years of age category.
The 19-year-old Tatura local is a university student studying in Melbourne and when she visits her home in Tatura she turns out with her local fire brigade.
“When away from home I volunteer with Northwest Mooroopna as well and occasionally with Ballarat due to having friends and family over there,” Charlotte said.
“My advice to people who study full-time or have full-time jobs is volunteering is flexible and you can suit it to your own schedule.”
Charlotte joined at the age of 14 with CFA’s juniors, along with the state championships team. When she turned 16, she became operational.
“My family are all volunteers,” Charlotte said.
“I love being a volunteer for CFA because it gives so much flexibility, but also you get introduced to a lot of new people and you get to learn a lot of new skills.”
Kaylea Blake and Colin Atkinson want to encourage more Indigenous members to join the CFA.
Echuca Fire Brigade junior volunteer Kaylea Blake has been a part of CFA’s junior program for three years, since she was 12 years old, and wants to inspire other Indigenous people to consider joining the organisation.
“I’d like to inspire other Indigenous people to join CFA or participate in other activities that will put themselves out of their comfort zone to help save the land,” she said.
“Doing training and running competitions throughout the year gives CFA juniors an opportunity to make friends with people from the brigade and other brigades across Victoria.”
Kaylea joined the CFA after being inspired by stories of her great uncle, a former CFA volunteer.
“I’ve looked up to the seniors in the brigade since I was 13 and being a leader of the brigade one day would be a great achievement,” she said.
Echuca Fire Brigade junior leader Colin Atkinson said when his grandfather joined the CFA, he was the only Indigenous firefighter at the brigade.
Mr Atkinson has made it his mission to help get more of the Indigenous community involved, praising the involvement of the young Indigenous members of the brigade.
“I’m really proud to see so many young Indigenous children involved. There are not a lot of Indigenous firefighters around, and I’ve seen the juniors thrive as a result of this program,” he said.
“I’m proud to say our brigade is now a culturally safe space which is welcoming to all members from various cultural backgrounds.”
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