January 18, 2009

It sounds like some sort of fire-safety message: Where there's fire, there's Burns.
But in the case of the Taradale Volunteer Fire Brigade when all the Burnses are out there will still be fires.
That's how it is with the departure of Peter Burns, who after almost 37 years' service to the brigades of Meeanee and Taradale was farewelled last night, leaving next week with wife Jan to live and work in Queensland.
With sons and fellow fire volunteers Michael and Richard having already made the move, it's the first time the brigade has not had any member named Burns since it was formed 25 years ago.
They're not the only ones _ there was also Peter's brother John, and father Stan, who was never a firefighter, but was made a life member for his 30 years of service as Father Christmas.
When Peter met Jan, it was inevitable they would get on like a house on fire, for her father and two brothers were also firemen.
To keep the home fires burning once they leave, a couple of nephews are lining up, and the former deputy chief says: 'One nephew is going through the motions of joining up right now.'
Like a fire, it doesn't take much, as 53-year-old Peter Burns should know, having turned out to at least 5000 calls since his first with the Meeanee brigade in 1972.
It also doesn't take much for people to come out with the punny nicknames, such as 'Tree' or 'Grass' Burns, although it seems only the less-punny Burnsy has stuck.
Holding down a day job, from his original job as an apprentice mechanic, through working in a tyre company workshop, or in his own business, or for a contractor at Pan Pac where he joined the redundancy queue last year, it's been a heavy commitment. His wife once estimated that was 'about 72 hours a week'.
'I don't know if it was ever that much' he says, although it averaged about four calls a week at one stage.
The all-volunteer brigade has a complement of 24, and he says: 'I will miss the camaraderie. The social side is pretty good. If you didn't have it you wouldn't have volunteer brigades.'
He departs at a time when the number of calls answered by the brigade has declined sharply, dipping under 150 for the first time in at least a decade.
Chief Dennis Bristow credits the opening of the Expressway-Meeanee Rd interchange, bringing to an end the intersection crashes that were a regular feature of the brigade's service, and the night-time closing of gates to the Tutaekuri River's Guppy Rd reserve, formerly plagued by the torching of stolen or dumped vehicles.
Ironically, some people in Taradale wonder if there are more calls, after a recent decision to reintroduce the station siren to summon firefighters because of problems with a paging system.