Chris Glenn was recently honoured for more than 30 years of service to the brigade.
The special presentation turned out to be a surprise addition to the awards night, which had been organised to present long service medals and breathing apparatus accreditation to members.
A man of few words, Mr Glenn joined the brigade in 1989 “just because you do”.
‘‘It is an honour but I feel a bit embarrassed as a lot of people have done as much as I have over the years,’’ Mr Glenn said.
‘‘Maybe the life membership means I get to sit in the front of the fire truck out of the smoke."
Brigade secretary/treasurer Heidi Glenn said her husband had contributed a lot to the brigade throughout his continuous service.
‘‘He has held many administration and operational positions during this time including but not limited to 11 consecutive years as president,’’ Mrs Glenn said.
‘‘He is always on hand for all of our community activities including barbecues, fundraising, Santa deliveries and fire education.
‘‘He makes himself available to go to call outs and has been a long time driver.
‘‘We all felt that he deserves this honour, not for the many logged hours of firefighting but for the countless hours he spends behind the scenes at the station maintaining our equipment and trucks.
‘‘On bad fire days he goes in and checks that everything is ready to go just in case the worst happens, and he is a very valuable member of our brigade.’’
Several other hardworking volunteer firefighters were honoured with awards, including Rhys Glenn and Blake Keech who received 10-year service medals.
Eight members were also officially presented with their qualifications after completing breathing apparatus training. They are the first firefighters in the RFS Mid Murray Zone to become fully accredited. Mid-Murray zone manager Tony Whitehorn said that the ‘‘large gap’’ in firefighter safety and respiratory protection was identified soon after he came to the brigade at the end of 2017.
He was given budgetary support to start the training this year.
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