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More than 100 primary students from Colac and Beeac recently dropped into Beeac Fire Station to say thank you to local CFA volunteers for their hard work and service this fire season.
On Monday morning (9 February), a contingent of Grade 3 and 5 students from St Mary's Primary School in Colac and Beeac Primary School beamed into the station with energy and enthusiasm, with countless handcrafted thank you posters in tow.
The bright red and orange posters with impressive firefighting drawings and words of gratitude, became the backdrop of the day, with a mural-like spectacle decorating the station roller doors.
The idea to pay tribute was floated by a grade 1 student, Eileen Reid, who just happened to be the daughter of Beeac Fire Brigade firefighter Peter Reid.
"It was a case of Eileen seeing a sign that someone had painted on your way into Colac thanking CFA volunteers that she then suggested to me that they should do the same at school," Peter said.
"She mentioned it when I dropped her off on her first day, so I spoke to the Principal Michael Mahoney that afternoon, and he thought it was a great idea and said he would look into it.
"He started off with seven kids in two cars coming down, before it climbed to 30 and the eventual 100."
Throughout the morning, several students had the opportunity to express verbally how proud they were of the firefighters and thanked them for their efforts.
While 14 budding students tasked the firefighters with some hard-hitting questions about their response to recent fires, how they can be more fire safe at home, what it feels like to be on a truck and how the equipment works.
Peter said it was a fantastic morning and a wonderful event for the community to come together for, with brigade members grateful for CFA Chief Officer Jason Heffernan and CFA District 6 Assistant Chief Fire Officer Peter Lockwood joining in on the day too.
"The kids were really engaged, and they were really wanting to find out more about what we did, and what it takes to be a firefighter," Peter said.
"Like many of the kids, I can see the passion in Eileen, and when my pager goes off in the middle of the night, she wakes up too and says, 'Daddy go get the fire!'
The appreciations follow the brigade members deployments on several strike teams across the south west throughout January, particularly in the Otways.
"We had three to four strike teams, and a couple of swing shifts in Carlisle River, Irrewillipe and Gellibrand over recent weeks," Peter said.
"We also supported Cressy, Derrinallum and Noorat on the extreme fire days, and on Tuesday (27 January) we were stationed at Lismore to protect the township if something happened."
The budding future firefighters finished the morning with ice creams and fruit, plenty of high fives and photos with Captain Koala and a climb through a CFA truck.
