JUST over 25 years after becoming the CFA's first female captain, North East firefighter Sue Sheldrick has been honoured at the brigade's new training centre.
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A roadway at the $31 million complex at Ballan, east of Ballarat, has been named Sheldrick Street.
Mrs Sheldrick was one of 10 CFA luminaries to be recognised in the names of routes at the training base which was officially opened on Tuesday and replaces Fiskville, which was closed due to contamination linked to cancer cases.
"I was really humbled," Mrs Sheldrick said of the tribute.
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"When I first received the phone call I thought that's a great way of street naming but whether I needed to be there or not I wasn't sure."
She paraphrased astronaut Neil Armstrong's famous moon landing words to describe the moment.
"It was a small step for man but one giant leap for womankind in the CFA," Mrs Sheldrick said.
"To be appointed the first CFA captain was quite symbolic and left the door open for any woman to be involved in anyway they want."
Mrs Sheldrick is now also in the South Wangaratta brigade which has a female captain, Lesley Forman.
Wangaratta fire brigade captain Jason Allisey also has a direct connection to one of the new streets at the Ballan base.
Allisey Track was named after his late father Greg, who was a long-serving firefighter at various stations and a driving instructor at Fiskville.
"I lived on fire stations and when I was a kid we lived at the training ground at Fiskville, so it's in my blood and to have that bestowed upon dad was a real honour," Jason Allisey said.
"It goes to show the respect dad built among his peers and across the CFA."
Mr Allisey's mother Robyn travelled from Echuca to see her husband, who died in October last year, saluted by the CFA hierarchy.
Jason Allisey is a third-generation fireman, with his grandfather having also served in south-eastern Melbourne, while his father spent much of his career in the Frankston area.
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