By Mikayla Van Loon
The remarkable effort of two local CFA brigades, with help from FRV, to save two children from a burning house has been recognised a little over a year since the event.
Mooroolbark and Chirnside Park firefighters received the Unit Citation for Service award on Wednesday 22 November for rescuing three unconscious people from a burning property in Mooroolbark on 5 September 2022 and performing life saving CPR on the two children.
The 17 members in total were recognised for using a “range of intricate skills in the face of [a] distressing situation” and were “commended for epitomising the spirit of CFA at its highest level”.
Mooroolbark CFA captain Mark Drennan said since the citation’s inception in 2011, it has only been awarded on 10 occasions.
“I haven’t seen it awarded to this many people from one brigade but it’s only been awarded 10 times in the past, so from what I’m aware of, this is a very rare occurrence for our officers to recognise this many people from the one brigade,” he said.
Chirnside Park firefighters were the first to arrive on scene and started the process of containing the four-bedroom house fire until Mooroolbark took the lead.
“When our crews got to the scene, the neighbours notified us that a mother and two children were still unaccounted for,” Mr Drennan said.
“Our brigade, alongside Chirnside Park, forced entry into the property by the front door and the rear doors and moments later after entering the property with thermal imaging cameras, we located the mother and the two children, all at that point were lifeless.”
Unfortunately, the mother died at the scene but Mr Drennan said firefighting was suspended so attention could be turned to performing CPR.
“We performed critical CPR on the children for about 25 minutes and we were able to get them into critical but stable conditions to be taken away by ambulance to the Royal Children’s,” he said.
“The work done by all the crews there took a massive effort. When you’re doing CPR on such a large scale like that, rotating crews through to continue CPR and continue oxygen, that’s why so many people were awarded because it took a lot of people to bring the children back.
“We suspended firefighting at the time, the house fire wasn’t our priority. Our priority was to get these kids alive then we resumed firefighting.”
Chirnside Park CFA captain Ben Cash said the working side by side with fellow CFA, but also FRV members, meant fire crews were able to respond as quickly as possible.
“It was from that quick intervention that these kids hopefully now have a long life ahead of them,” he said.
Mr Drennan said having spoken with the father just weeks ago, he could confirm the children were doing well and are making a great recovery.
Making the search and rescue effort even more challenging was the fully alight house that had structural damage.
“The crews were met with a pretty well secured four-bedroom home. When we entered the property the roof caved in, which made searching difficult as well,” Mr Drennan said.
“The roof gave way and really hindered our crews on the inside to find the children and the mother, but with the training, the skill set we’ve got, we were able to still continue our job and find the mother and the children.”
Mr Cash said it really “put on show the relationship between CFA and FRV and how the fire crews worked together for a common goal” of rescuing the children.
“Our training and skills work hand in hand and everyone should be commended. We have a great relationship with FRV and we complement each other beautifully.”
That’s why, in another rare occurrence, FRV Station 26 Croydon members received the Chief Commendation.
“This is the second time it’s been awarded to another fire service outside of CFA,” Mr Drennan said.
As “one of the biggest fire events for a number of years”, Mr Cash said it has not only taken a toll on the brigade but on the broader community.
“It’s probably had the biggest impact on the wider community in terms of a job of consequence because the children go to local schools, they are part of the local community,” he said.
Being a volunteer-run fire service, Mr Drennan said no one ever expected to respond to a job of this nature but it was the essence of the job.
“When the pager goes off, we have no idea what we’re going to. We get out of bed at all hours of the morning, all hours of the day, we can be called upon, and we have no idea what we’re going to.
“We get limited information on the pager and limited information on the job on the way there and then to be confronted with a pretty horrific scene like this, as a volunteer, you don’t see that in everyday life.
“So it will affect people a lot more than others and it doesn’t matter the experience level, if you’ve been in CFA for 20 years, or for two years, it will affect you in some way.”
As with any volunteer organisation, Mr Drennan and Mr Cash said none of their members, including themselves, do it for recognition or awards but it did come as a nice surprise to some.
“To be recognised by peers in the organisation for a job well done has been great. Some people had no idea this award was even coming so a lot of people were very humble,” Mr Drennan said.
“No one does it for the awards and a lot of volunteers don’t do a lot of things for the awards or to get recognised but for this type of citation, we feel very honoured to be recognised by the CFA board and the chief officer and peers in the CFA community.”
Echoing Mr Drennan, Mr Cash said “members don’t attend, respond or volunteer for recognition”.
“This distinguished honour goes to show the incredible effort of our members during this event,” he said.
“It’s humbling and extremely honouring to receive this citation.”
