National Volunteers Week: Springhurst CFA made up of one-third of the town

The small town of Springhurst has defied the mass exodus of CFA volunteers Victoria-wide, out of “respect” and care for one another.

In a time of mass volunteer exodus, particularly in Victoria’s CFA, the small town of Springhurst, near Wangaratta, is bucking the trend.

Of the 196-strong population, 62 are CFA volunteers – roughly one in three.

Springhurst CFA captain Stuart Maxwell says it’s no accident, and that it all started with the establishment of a social club that much of the town attends on Friday nights.

“I think that if you’re able to establish an environment where there’s good, broad-spread community involvement, it really puts your town in good stead,” he said.

“We’re in the middle of a farming community, it’s a lot of crop country and all our cropping farmers are also members of the CFA — without them and their knowledge it would be difficult, so we’re blessed for that.”

CFA volunteers from Springhurst. Picture: Supplied

Stuart highlighted the difficulties of navigating covid, and managing volunteers who had differing opinions on how to approach the health challenges of those unprecedented times. But he stressed that his rule was to always stay respectful of everyone.

And it worked. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Springhurst CFA has only lost one volunteer, and that’s because they moved to Tasmania.

“I think our brigade is not only about firefighting,” he said. “It’s about creating a caring culture.

“We’re a small town, when the chips are down we all get together and look after each other.”