Yarrawonga’s fire brigade has been boosted with 19 junior members, up from five last year.
The future of the Yarrawonga Fire Brigade is looking bright with 19 new junior members eagerly running through the fire station doors since January, ready to learn the ropes, and hoses.
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This September, at Youth Fest 2026, the firies are Celebrating our Youth, highlighting the contributions and achievements of young people in the CFA community.
Yarrawonga Fire Brigade junior leader, Renee Parks said the welcome boost was a big jump from the five they started with last year when the junior program was reignited for the first time in 20 years.
“For a lot of them it is a social group where they can grow some skills in something that isn’t footy or netball and just more general in nature.
“We kept our recruitment and awareness activities pretty similar to last year, which included a couple of school visits,” Renee said.
“I think it has just been word of mouth from the kids talking about it at school; they just kept pouring in.
“For a lot of them it is a social group where they can grow some skills in something that isn’t footy or netball and just more general in nature.
“They don’t all know each other from school, but they’re all getting along together really nicely.”
Coordinated through the Junior Volunteer Development Program (JVDP), young people aged 11 to 15 years are introduced to CFA through safe and challenging activities, and those that build their self-esteem, self-confidence and social relationships.
Renee was pleased that out of the 19 new juniors, more than half of them are young women.
“It’s so positive to see 11 new women, regardless of age, in our brigade and around the fire station,” she said.
“There are only two other women alongside me who are current members and operational firefighters.
“A couple of children have parents in the brigade, and we’ve had three or four lots of younger siblings who have joined this year, but otherwise they’re all new to the mix.”
Skills training for juniors is safe and challenging, building self-esteem, self-confidence and social relationships.
With more than 20 juniors regularly training once a month, Renee and her fellow junior leaders have been expanding on the JVDP guide and adding their own flair to training.
“We just had the training pod in Yarrawonga, so they got to watch that,” Renee said.
“There was a group of seniors showing them what we use that for and then they got to use the technology.
“We stood at a safe distance the whole time and talked them through how we use the thermal imaging camera.
“They've also started learning some competition drills as well, so we've just purchased some new equipment to help with that.”
Over the coming weeks, Renee will be finalising an end of year visit to CFA’s Wangaratta Training Campus for the juniors to use fire extinguishers and fire blankets in house fire scenarios.
You can find more information on the Junior Volunteer Development Program on CFA’s website at www.cfa.vic.gov.au/juniorvolunteers
