Because they didn’t finish up as your run-of-the-mill brigade elections.
Instead they became a history-making occasion as the brigade voted in Nicole Calleja as its first female lieutenant — and at the same time re-elected 83-year-old secretary Bryan Pickthall.
Nicole is the 4th lieutenant of the brigade after Tom Dixon, Terry Dobson, Julian Pearse and community safety officer Ben Trevena and is the first of the younger members to become a part of the management team.
Being in the brigade since she was 16, Nicole said family was a big deciding factor in her joining.
“Dad and my three brothers were in the brigade and they would always head out to fires and leave me at home so I thought I would join and go with them,” she said.
Two of Nicole’s brothers are still in the brigade and her father George is the captain.
“I just joined as a junior and worked my way through the ranks. Myself and three or four other girls joined up, did the wildfire course training and absolutely loved it,” Nicole said.
To anyone who may be thinking of volunteering with their local CFA Nicole has one simple message: “Come along to a meeting, you meet the people, get to see the gear we use and then you can decide from there’’.
‘‘The meetings are open to everyone,” she said. “Most of the time people just love the community atmosphere in the brigade — and there are more roles than just the firefighting ones.”
Someone who knows about those roles is secretary Bryan Pickthall, at 83 he said he’s a “ring in” to the brigade, only being there for more than 10 years.
“I’m an oldie, I only started volunteering when I was 50 and I began in Mount Beauty,” he said.
He stepped down from firefighting when he turned 80 years but that hasn’t dimmed his commitment to community service; he has been secretary for the past eight years.
However, as happy as he was to be re-elected he said he was also looking to pass on the baton.
While he said he’s not over the hill just yet, he was looking for a protégé to lead the brigade after the 2021 elections.
■ If you are interested in joining the Bamawm Extension CFA, call Bryan on 0418 977 735.