The station is normally attended on Wednesday evenings (7.30pm -10pm) and Sunday mornings (9.30am – noon), when volunteers engage in training and meetings. Members also attend at other times to attend to maintenance and administration.

Ours is a volunteer fire station. In an emergency, firefighters immediately turnout from their homes or workplaces nearby.

Our firefighters and other volunteer members are all drawn from the local community and represent a broad cross-section of occupations and backgrounds. They all give freely of their time and energy to help keep your community safe.

The brigade is led by a Captain, supported by a small corps of officers and a larger brigade management team. All positions are elected on a two-yearly cycle.

Women and men aged 16 years and over can join the brigade. A range of roles are available. We are always looking for people who want to become firefighters. There are many non-operational roles in administration, community safety, equipment and station maintenance and support. Young people (11-16 years) can become junior members: (link)

You need to be physically able, reasonably fit and up for a challenge! All new recruits undergo a training program that equips them with the basic skills and knowledge to function safely and effectively in emergency conditions. The training package is nationally accredited and used across Australia. This “rookie” period usually last at least six months. After that, a range of specialist training is undertaken.

It’s not just about bushfire! Sure our “bread and butter” events are bushfires, which reflects the local risk in the Dandenongs. But we also turn out to a range of other incidents. Sadly, around one-third of our calls are to motor vehicle accidents. Other emergencies include building fires, car fires, fuel spills, gas leaks … and, yes, the occasional animal rescue.

Our brigade is active in the community providing safety information on how to prepare your property for bushfire, how to develop a bushfire plan for your family and more general home fire safety. Contact us to find out more: (email link)

Operational members (firefighters) are alerted via pagers and smartphone apps when they need to attend the station. In addition, three sirens (in Clarkmont, Hilton and Birds roads) may sound during the day.

Always seek information from more than one source. The VicEmergency App is a great source. Emergency broadcasters – locally ABC 774 is best – are another. The VicEmergency website (www.emergency.vic.gov.au), CFA Facebook and CFA Twitter are other sources. The VicEmergency hotline (1800 226 226) is also an option. Our brigade webpage does NOT provide active incident advice. Social media more generally contains much misinformation during emergencies. Use your senses: look and smell for smoke, listen for sirens and trucks.

Burning off is permitted to reduce the amount of bushfire fuel on your property. Please consider other ways to remove or reduce fuel so as to avoid smoke nuisance and environment al damage. For much of the year, burning off is subject to a Yarra Ranges Council local law and is only allowed on certain days and in certain months: https://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Environment/Burning-off. Over the warmer months CFA declares a Fire Danger Period during which time burning off is not permitted at all: https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-restrictions/restrictions-during-the-fire-danger-period. Burning off is also prohibited on days of Total Fire Ban.