Poowong CFA lieutenant Geoff Douglas, 66, loses cancer battle

A respected Poowong dairy farmer and CFA firefighter is being remembered as a lover of ice cream and someone who was “full of laughs”.

Well-respected firefighter and dairy farmer Geoff Douglas, 66, died on July 27. Picture: Poowong CFA/Facebook

A respected Gippsland CFA firefighter and dairy farmer is being remembered as a man who was always there to help, usually with an ice cream in hand.

Geoff Douglas, 66, died in the Toowoomba Base Hospital on July 27, after battling cancer for 18 months.

Mr Douglas was the loving husband of Jenny, the father of Travis, Pollyanna, Skye and Eugene and the pop of Oliver and Ava.

He joined Poowong Fire Brigade in April 1986 and served as a brigade member and firefighter until his death.

During the almost 40 years of CFA service Mr Douglas held many roles including first, second and third lieutenant, communications officer, and group and VFBV delegate.

He was honoured with a national medal, national medal 1st Clasp, national emergency medal for the 2019-2020 bushfires, and most recently, his 35 year CFA Life member award.

Poowong CFA station captain Zeb Mitchell told the Herald Sun Geoff had a great work ethic and was always willing to help.

Mr Douglas joined the Poowong Fire Brigade in April 1986 and remained a brigade member and firefighter until he passed away. Picture: Facebook/Poowong CFA

“If we were looking for strike teams or someone to go on deployment, he would be the first one to put his hand up,” Mr Mitchell said.

He said one thing everyone knew about Geoff was that he loved his ice creams.

“He would come into a meeting or training and it would be four degrees or something and he would be eating one,” Mr Mitchell said.

“He struggled with his ice creams for the last 12 months — he couldn’t have them because of his chemo.”

Mr Mitchell said Geoff was “full of laughs”, and “a bit cheeky” but could be serious when it counted.

“If you’re doing a training session, he’d go from one extreme to the other, and you didn’t know if he was serious or not,” he said.

Mr Mitchell said the family knew Geoff’s time was coming, and encouraged him to take a trip away to Queensland, where he died peacefully.

Stephen Douglas, 48, died when his car crashed while he was racing at the Daylesford Speedway in February last year.

“We told him to go and do some stuff — live life to the fullest, right to the end,” he said.

“But we didn’t realise he was that unwell when he left.”

The CFA wasn’t the only group to benefit from Geoff’s work ethic.

Mr Mitchell said he helped out the Strzelecki Landcare Group and maintained the Poowong Football Netball Club grounds.

“He loved to mow the lawns and mowed the neighbours’ lawns and probably half a dozen of other people’s lawns — he was just always busy,” he said.

Geoff’s brother, Stephen Douglas — an experienced race car driver who was also a CFA captain for many years — died in a high-speed crash at the Daylesford Speedway Track in February 2023.

Mr Mitchell said the Poowong brothers were both much loved by their communities.