By Julie Carmody
Horseshoe Bay Rural Fire Brigade Secretary / 6th Officer / Community Educator
On the 19th October, the Horseshoe Bay Rural Fire Brigade will celebrate its 65th anniversary.
An application back in 1959, to the then Rural Fires Board by 19 passionate locals (pineapple farmers, a bus driver, an Anglican Minister and local shop owners) to form the Horseshoe Bay Bush Fire Brigade, started the legacy that has continued over 65 years.
For the first 38 years, any equipment the brigade had was stored in members' sheds and then in 1997 after securing funds through fund raising, donations and grants they were able to lease a parcel of land from Townsville City Council and build our first shed and the brigade has not stopped growing since then.
Our first appliance, an International, served us well especially on the rugged island roads and tracks and was donated to Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service on the island, who planned to restore it. The arrival of the Ford 600, served the brigade well until it was sold in 2001 for $500 to the owners of Wanbiana Station near Charters Towers, where is has remained until recently being purchased by a long-time worker of Wambiana, and who is now restoring her to her original condition. Upon the arrival of our current 51 an Isuzu in 2010, our original 51 a Mitsubishi Canter was sent out to Mt Fox RFB.
The brigade currently has a fleet of three appliances and recently took delivery of an Isuzu D-Max Dual Cab as a support vehicle.
The strength and commitment of local island residents as members has been the heart of the Brigade, with the longevity and commitment of members (especially First Officers & Fire Wardens) to be make us the brigade that we are.
In celebration of the brigades 65th anniversary, we commissioned two murals to honour our volunteers past and present for their unwavering dedication and commitment to each other, brigade, the fire service and of course our community.
No two days are the same in a Rural Fire Brigade, you could be delivering community engagement, working with wildlife carers, responding to fire calls, deploying to assist crews in other regions or interstate, working on Planned Burns with partners agencies or training with some of the amazing new technology we now have at our disposal, a lot of which has been funded for brigades by RFBAQ over the last few years.
We could not do the job we do without the support of our families and friends, our employers, FireCom, RFSQ area office and State staff, RFBAQ and of course the support we receive from our community.
‘With a population of over2,600, we survive on the spirit of volunteering. The mutual respect
we have for each other here is what makes ‘maggie’ a great place to live. We are
surrounded by the beauty of the oceans and National Park but Mother Nature can be a
cruel neighbour, delivering storms, fires, and tropical cyclones. Working together as a
small Brigade has taught us humility, compassion, patience, and resilience. Most of all it
has taught us to have a good sense of humour’