By Mikayla van Loon
When Chirnside Park fire station was built as a satellite station to Lilydale, it wasn’t meant to double in membership size in six years.
But since being built, it has now become a stand alone station to service the ever growing community in Chirnside Park.
Chirnside Park CFA captain Ben Cash said since July 2015 his members have been operating under their own station but the facilities don’t cater for the amount of volunteers now working from Chirnside Park.
“When they built the building 16 odd years ago, it was only built to be a support, so our facilities are minimal compared to most stations in the area,” Mr Cash said.
Now the volunteers and members at Chirnside Park CFA are calling out for help to fundraise enough money to put towards a building extension and upgraded facilities.
One of the main additions needed at the station are female toilets.
“For the CFA and for our brigade in particular we have a very strong female membership base and it’s only fair that they have facilities, which should be the absolute bare minimum in my opinion anyway,” Mr Cash said.
Needing extra room for gear and equipment is also a top priority for Mr Cash, along with better kitchen facilities and more desks and office equipment once the building is complete.
To start, Mr Cash said they are hoping to raise $20,000 with an online fundraiser but they plan to raise funds the traditional way via tin rattling and a Bunnings sausage sizzle in the near future too.
“Realistically we probably need more of that and we’ll be using a few different strategies in the next year or two to grow those funds.”
“We would have loved to have started all of this earlier but Covid over the last 18 months there has been no fundraising at all, so it has been really difficult to try and get any momentum.”
With over 1200 stations in the state all wanting some sort of funding from the CFA and State government, Mr Cash isn’t sure what they will receive at this point but said they are working closely with the CFA to get the best outcome for their members.
Each year Chirnside Park fire brigade responds to around 250 calls but as the community grows, Mr Cash said so too does the brigade.
“So we need to make sure we have a good volunteer base to make sure we can provide adequate protection for our community,” he said.
“We’re going through a lot of expansion in the Chirnside Park area from a housing point of view and with that the brigade needs to grow in order to continue to service their community as best they can.”
What started with 20 members as a satellite station, Mr Cash said is now a 44 member stand alone station.
Working hard to build up memberships in the area, Chirnside Park CFA held a membership drive which saw an increase in interested residents and helped grow the volunteer base.
“I think there was a bit of a barrier for people not knowing how to get involved, so we tried to make that easier as a brigade to actually engage with our local community,” Mr Cash said.
“Now that we’re our own station it’s a lot easier for us to engage with our local community and have people join our brigade and feel they have that sense of belonging and sense of community as well.”
If thinking about joining, Mr Cash said they are always on the lookout for new members, particularly those who can do day time and mid week shifts.
To help Chirnside Park CFA reach their goal head to this link to donate https://gofund.me/e7daeef3.
“We appreciate the support the community has given us in the past and no doubt they will continue to give us in the future.”
