A fire that threatened to wipe out Chiltern 150 years ago led to the formation of the brigade protecting the town to this day.
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Chiltern Fire Brigade will celebrate its 150th anniversary with a community event on Saturday, November 18, highlighting its history through displays of equipment used across a century and a half.
For more than 85 years, the town had two brigades.
Chiltern Urban Fire Brigade started in 1873, the 18th unit in Victoria, with school teacher T.S. Marshall its inaugural captain.
In 1921, landowners in the area formed Chiltern Bush Fire Brigade, later known as Chiltern Rural Fire Brigade, to ensure those living outside of the town would also be protected.
The urban brigade focused on structural fires, while grassfires were the responsibility of rural members.
Both fell under the Country Fire Authority when it formed in 1945, but remained separate entities until members voted to amalgamate and create Chiltern Fire Brigade in 2008.
![Chiltern Fire Brigade's Marelle Whitaker, captain Shannon Beacom, Ian Trewhella and Ian Whitaker are excited for the 150th anniversary event on Saturday, November 18. Picture by James Wiltshire Chiltern Fire Brigade's Marelle Whitaker, captain Shannon Beacom, Ian Trewhella and Ian Whitaker are excited for the 150th anniversary event on Saturday, November 18. Picture by James Wiltshire](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/beau.greenway/89017429-27af-4d65-bebb-1f1a5f40eb0d.JPG/r0_0_5421_3614_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Brigades were based in a double storey station on Conness Street, next to the Chiltern Athenaeum Museum, before a move to its current home on Crawford Street in 2000, which underwent an extension in 2006.
Long-time member and brigade historian Ian Whitaker said he struggled to fathom how firefighters tackled blazes given the limited equipment available in the early years.
"The rural brigade used beaters (a flap of material attached to a handle) and then knapsacks came in and they were high tech. They were actually stationed around on properties strategically," he said.
"A horsedrawn manual pump unit was used by the urban brigade until 1944. They could throw out a fair bit of water.
"The original equipment was a running cart where they connected up the hoses and the brigade literally ran with it.
"After the disastrous fires in 1944, the government made available a lot of ex-army vehicles. In 1952, the rural brigade bought a 1949 Chevrolet truck and vehicles have been regularly updated over the years."
Mr Whitaker's wife Marelle, a former Chiltern brigade captain, said many women of the town were unsung heroes.
"There's stories of women going through fire to make sure the men had food and they were also saving properties because the men were all helping to fight the fire and they were the only ones left to actually deal with the fire when it got there," she said.
![Former Chiltern CFA captain Gary Richardson celebrating the 140th anniversary of the brigade in 2013. File picture Former Chiltern CFA captain Gary Richardson celebrating the 140th anniversary of the brigade in 2013. File picture](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/beau.greenway/99159a27-884b-46bd-97b2-af3e86b9c2f3.jpg/r0_0_4500_3260_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"We went from a bucket brigade where people passed buckets to douse a fire to getting a manual engine.
"You think back to those times when Chiltern was a mining town, there was thousands of people here and it was a much bigger population."
Chiltern's brigades have assisted with several major fires, including a blaze in 1952 that burnt from Cornishtown all the way past Chiltern, through Barnawartha onto Wodonga.
Many major campaign efforts have followed from 2003 through to the Black Summer fires of 2019-2020.
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Ian Trewhella has been involved in many of those fights, including defending a blaze that started at Eldorado in 2003 and moved towards Chiltern.
"In recent times, a fire hasn't been in Chiltern itself, but we were flat out in Beechworth in 2009," he said.
"In 2014 we had crews got to Kilmore and Hazelwood and 2019 in Bunyip.
"There's been multiple trips up to NSW to places such as Kempsey and Bateman's Bay. In late 2019, we got back from NSW and then the Black Summer Corryong fires started."
Chiltern Fire Brigade captain Shannon Beacom said he was eager to share some of the brigade's history with the community.
![Ian Whitaker, captain Shannon Beacom, Marelle Whitaker and Ian Trewhella showing off a range of new and old equipment and uniforms used by Chiltern Fire Brigade across its 150 years. Picture by James Wiltshire Ian Whitaker, captain Shannon Beacom, Marelle Whitaker and Ian Trewhella showing off a range of new and old equipment and uniforms used by Chiltern Fire Brigade across its 150 years. Picture by James Wiltshire](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/beau.greenway/24707bc7-aa20-4a67-843e-102b13f37c8a.JPG/r0_0_5463_3642_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"We're starting down the main street with a parade of vintage appliances through to our current fleet," he said.
"We'll then be proceeding to Lake Anderson where we'll be holding a family day with demonstrations of past and current firefighting techniques.
"There will be plenty to do for the kids. We're going to have races, face painting and a chance to come and try an extinguisher."
Mr Beacom, who started as a junior member 19 years ago and was appointed captain in 2021, said some volunteers would be recognised with 50-year service medals on the day, while the National Emergency Medal would be awarded to other members for their work during the Black Summer bushfires.
A dinner dance at Chiltern Memorial Hall will wrap up the day, with CFA Chief Officer Jason Heffernan to attend.
Mr Beacom said he was very proud to lead the brigade and assured it was in a strong position.
![Chiltern's urban captain Andrew Walls and rural captain Stewart McGregor standing in the place where the brigade's bell was stolen from in 2005. File picture Chiltern's urban captain Andrew Walls and rural captain Stewart McGregor standing in the place where the brigade's bell was stolen from in 2005. File picture](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/beau.greenway/53b8682a-426f-491d-a2a3-a835b08f586b.jpg/r0_0_2464_1648_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"I became captain in 2021 and it was pretty hard to get members back involved and get back into training regimes after COVID," he said.
"We more assisted with floods, but going into this fire season we're in a really strong position. We've got a very strong membership with 100 members on our books, including our junior fire brigade.
"We've got members who have been here for six months through to 65 years and it's a really diverse brigade.
"We're one of the leaders for female participation in the district, which we pride ourselves on.
"We've got strong youth numbers as well with members under the age of 25 making up 20 per cent of our brigade, which is leading the way in the district as well."
The 150th anniversary parade starts from Conness Street at 11am.
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