William Brand wins Australian Fire Service Medal on Australia Day, 2022
There have been plenty of close calls for the Brooweena rural firefighter who has been volunteering his services for 40 years. Read all about them:
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Dedicated Fraser Coast rural fire volunteer William Brand has been awarded the prestigious Australian Fire Service Medal on Australia Day.
The Brooweena local has been volunteering with the Rural Fire Service for more than 40 years and has spent the past 32 in charge of the Brooweena station, which he founded shortly after to moving to the area in 1990.
In those years Mr Brand, a former Fraser Coast foreman, has tirelessly battled huge blazes near and far and been dispatched to cyclone and flood deployment around Queensland.
Most recently he spent nine days straight cleaning up after the Fraser Coast floods that swept through Maryborough and its outlying towns following a freak rain event on January 7.
While he said he did not know how many fires he had been to in his decades of service, the one that stood out the most was the fierce Aramara fires of 2012, in the region’s west, that threatened homes and livestock.
“It was one of the biggest ones – it just about took out the township. We worked 22 -23 hours without a break. We had homes under threat – it was the hairiest one we’ve had.”
He said he had had some close calls, but safety in the job was paramount for his team of 20 firefighters.
“I wouldn’t put any of my men in anywhere I wouldn’t go myself,” he said.
“There are certain places you just can’t take people into so you have to find a way to work around it.”
He said he was now training the next generation of rural firefighters in the region.
Despite his endless dedication to the community he was surprised and overwhelmed he had been honoured with the award.
But it wouldn’t match the most rewarding part of the job, he said, which was the appreciation he had received over the years form people he had helped.
“When you help someone, and you see the sheer appreciation on their face – you know you’ve done something good for someone.”
He particularly remembers during one weather event he was tasked with a group to safe proof a property at Byfield.
“We were at one place where an older fella lived who was dying of cancer and couldn’t look after his place.
“I spent all day with six blokes with chainsaws cleaning up. The appreciation he had for us (was incredible)– just knowing that you could help someone like that makes you feel good.”
William will be collecting his award in Brisbane in April.