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History of the PCFB
On Wednesday 5th December 2001 a public meeting was held at at Sanctuary Lakes Golf Club to establish the Point Cook Fire Brigade. The brigade was officially formed as an 'A' class brigade with the holding of the first official Brigade Meeting on 19th December 2001. A list of people who attended the first public meeting can be found in Appendix 1.
Originally, Brigade meetings were held on the grounds of Seabrook Primary School, then Point Cook Primary School (now known as Carranballac P-9 College) whist awaiting the construction of the Fire Station at it's present location in Dunnings Road.
The first (temporary) station was established on the grounds of the Rangers Office at the Point Cook Coastal Park on Point Cook Rd as a temporary measure whilst the permanent station was under construction. (Appendix 4 displays a map showing the original and present locations)
Michael Masters was endorsed as the first OIC of the Point Cook Brigade and continued in the position until 2008 when it was filled by Geoff McGill.
At the first Brigade Meeting, elections for the positions of 1st, 2nd and 3rd Lieutenants were held with these being filled by Bill Garner, Michael Anderson and Peter Homann respectively. The position of 4th Lieutenant was not established in the brigade until the May 2002 elections. A full list of brigade elected positions and the names of those who held them can be found in Appendix 2.
Even though the brigade was designated a class 'A' brigade (Consisting of Career Staff and Volunteers), the brigade was formed with 50 volunteer members, none of which were qualified to respond to emergencies. To ensure this issue was addressed quickly, close to half of the members were sent on an intensive 2 week training course at the CFA's training grounds at Fiskville, however it was not until August 2002, when the brigade became officially operational and was able to attend emergencies, that they attended their first call out.
In 2003, the Point Cook brigade fought in the North East Victorian and New South Wales fires, as well as a major fire fight to save Werribee High School during a blaze in May 2004.
At the Brigade Meeting in March 2005, members of the brigade were asked to put forward their ideas for a brigade logo which would be voted on in April. There were few designs put fowrward for consideration and a design by Kevin Thursby and Dave Brennan was voted as being the Point Cook Fire Brigade Logo. The logo consists of the CFA eight pointed star in the background (known as the Fire Star) and covered by a three bladed propeller. The significance of the propeller was to acknowledge that "As part of its history Point Cook has long been recognised as the birthplace of Australian military aviation (1913), and subsequently of the RAAF (1921)".
After some quite lengthy delays, the new station was completed in February 2005 and located some 3.5 Kms NNW of it's original temporary location. This station, at the junction of Dunnings Rd and Palmers Rd, was officially opened on 30th April 2005 (read the media release).
July 2006 saw the Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS) move in to the station as a temporary measure whilst their station was being built near the intersection of Dunnings and Point Cook Roads. Initially panning to occupy the CFA station for only 12 months, it was not until August 2008 that the MAS station was completed and they relocated.
On 5th May 2008, the first Career Staff moved into their positions at the station ending the era of the brigade being manned by volunteers only, whilst this introduced significant change within the brigade, at the same time, it started a new era in the brigade's evolution and increased the service to the local community.
(It should noted that this page is a "work in progress" and will be updated as more information comes to hand)
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