Board pays respects at Linton ahead of anniversary
The CFA Board held their November meeting at the Linton Fire Station.
Following the meeting, the Board toured the station and had lunch with CFA members including members of the Linton brigade, West Region Leadership Team and Grenville Group.
Board Chair Greg Wilson and several Board members then accompanied DCO Brett Boatman, Acting ACFO Gavin Hope, ACFO Bernie Fradd, ACFO Mark Gunning and Linton brigade members to the Linton Memorial in the Linton State Forest to pay their respects.
The Board marked the 25th anniversary of the 1998 Linton bushfire, which claimed the lives of Christopher Evans, Jason Thomas, Matthew Armstrong, Stuart Davidson and Garry Vredeveldt from Geelong West, with a minute’s silence.
The Linton fire on 2 December 1998 resulted in the biggest change in CFA history for training requirements for our members. Following the deaths at Linton, a coronial inquest recommended changes be made to planning, procedures and CFA equipment.
The learnings about safety and procedures in a truck burn over are now used by firefighters today. Minimum skills for firefighters were introduced as part of that change which is now mandatory for all new firefighters.