By Mikayla van Loon
The Mount Evelyn Fire Brigade has returned with one of its biggest fundraisers for the year, washing cars and selling sausages in the heart of the town.
After multiple years of being unable to host the fundraiser, Second Lieutenant Adam Myers said it was great to be back.
“It’s been a bit of a tradition, ever since Fast Fuel has had these car washes. We approached them one year and got this happening and everyone in the community knows about it,” he said.
Usually hosted annually on Australia Day, Second Lt Myers said “it’s just a Mount Evelyn thing, it’s what we do”, noting it as not only a perfect fundraising day but a camaraderie building day for the brigade.
“Australia Day is the perfect day for it because either people are on their way out, or they’re around town and not at work. It’s a good, fun day for us as well and a good bonding experience for the team,” he said.
“Not having stuff happening at the brigade because we were locked out from Covid we could only go to fire calls and one or two people could do essential cleaning of the trucks so it’s really good to get us all back into it and get back together as a big team.”
Both divisions of the brigade, the auxiliary and the responsive firefighters, lend a hand to wash cars and man the barbecue, with about 20 per cent of the crew volunteering their time across the day.
“We’ve got two parts of our brigade, we’ve got an auxiliary which organises all these events at the CFA and our fire awareness. They do a lot of that stuff for us in schools and then we’ve got the operational side of firefighters. This brings us together to do stuff together.”
In past years, Second Lt Myers said the carwash event can see anywhere up to 100 cars, on top of those who just stop by for the sausage sizzle.
With the support of Coffee n’ Cars Mount Evelyn, some vintage cars were also on display to attract attention.
While primarily a fundraiser, Second Lt Myers said it’s also an opportunity to discuss fire risks with the community and put a face to the first responders in the community.
“We give out fire restriction advice because fire restrictions are coming in on the 30th so it reinforces that and we have people ask about that,
“So it puts us out in the community and allows us to answer questions people have and sometimes we get people say, can I join up to volunteer so we get volunteers out of it as well.”
