Month: May 2018

Orielton Fire Brigade

Miss W. 1941-1970, Services

The Orielton Fire Brigade opened in 1951 by Rex Kemp to look after the fires in the valley. It moved to Sorell then back to Orielton in 1990. The new building began in 1990, was built by Charlie Macthie and cost $2000 to build it all with a double shed. The first owner was the Tasmanian Fire Service, and they had a Dodge fire truck.

 The biggest fire was in 1967 at the Orielton Musket Mill. They were there for 8 hours then they called back because of saw dust going in their eyes. It lasted 6 days long. They have had no one die in fires yet.

Midway Point Fire Brigade

Miss W. 1941-1970, Services ,

The Midway Point Fire Brigade was opened in 1970 by a man named John Lions.

The Midway Point fire brigade was re-opened on the 1st of April 1994.
The Midway Point Fire Brigade runs a junior fire fighting program for kids aged 10 and above.
They built the fire station there because they needed one after the 1967 fires that occurred in the area.

They have had around about nine chiefs in the past.
The first chief was Mr Jack Quarrel.
The present chief’s name is Mr Andrew Dare (2007).
In 2007, there were 28 members and 9 of them were ladies.

During 2007, they put out 78 fires. During 2008, they put out 205 fires.
There are 2 trucks at the fire brigade. One of them can hold 3000 litres and the other can hold 1300 litres
They haven’t saved many cats yet.

The way that they know that there is a fire is that they have a little thing called a pager. It tells them where the fire is.
They have to wear yellow or orange overalls so in a big bush fire they can be seen better.

To find out more about the current Midway Point Volunteer Fire Brigade, check out their Facebook page here.

Ben Lynch brings the fire on his property under control.

Information gathered by students when interviewing Mr Danny Reid & Mr Peter Krakowski in 2008