Country Fire Authority celebrates 80 years of fighting Victorian fires

The CFA is celebrating a milestone birthday and as one volunteer put it – “that’s just what you do when you grow up in the country, you get involved to help your community”.

Many who reach the milestone of 80 might seek the quiet life, with much less fuel in the tank to take on life’s challenges.

Not so the Country Fire Authority, which is celebrating eight decades this week with as much fire in the belly as its 1945 heyday.

While volunteer fire brigades have been operating in the Victorian community since colonial times, a statewide authority only came into being in the years following the 1939 Black Friday Royal Commission, which recommended a unified firefighting organisation.

Along with 1939, some fire seasons stick in the collective memory of volunteers more than most — such as the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, the 2019-20 scorching summer or the 1977 wildfires that ravaged western Victoria.

For Lancefield CFA first lieutenant Stuart Mustey, the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires provided the impetus for the then 16-year-old to sign up for a life in firefighter overalls.

“I think most people old enough to be around on Ash Wednesday in 1983 remember where they were,” he said.

“We could see the fires at Mount Macedon in the distance, it was a terrible day. I was 15 at the time and as soon as I turned 16 later that year, I signed up to be a volunteer.

“That’s just what you do when you grow up in the country, you get involved to help your community. My dad was a CFA volunteer and people see their own dads and mums involved in the local fire brigade and they join when they’re old enough.

“It’s a real community spirit thing, and there’s plenty of jobs apart from being at the frontline fighting fires — it’s a team effort.”

NEWS: CFA celebrates 80 years! Pictured: Lancefield CFA L-R Dave Cadogan, Alex Killender, Greg Reaburn, Jeff Steele, Stuart Mustey, Nathan Agius and John Smith.

CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan said the milestone fire season had been one of the busiest

in recent years, with 4589 fire-related incidents this season, 700 more than during the same period in 2023-24.

He said the Grampians and Little Desert fires generated headlines, but there were hundreds of other incidents volunteers covered since the season started in October.

Originally published as Country Fire Authority celebrates 80 years of fighting Victorian fires