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.

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.

Click to enlarge

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)

Details of the Public Meeting held on Wednesday 5th December 2001

Motion: "That the community of Point Cook apply to CFA to register the Point Cook Fire Brigade with it's headquarters at Point Cook."

Moved: Michael Piscopo 

Seconded: Julie Fergusson

Carried

 * Attendee became founding member of the Point Cook Fire Brigade

The following list shows a timeline of notable events in the history of the Point Cook Fire Brigade:

• 5th December 2001 - Public meeting held to establish the Point Cook Fire Brigade
• 19th December 2001 - First meeting of the Point Cook Fire Brigade
• February 2002 - Receives Tanker but housed off-site
• 16th August 2002 - Brigade made operational (support response only)
• 16th August 2002 - Responds to their first call out
• August / September 2002 - Occupies the temporary station
• September 2002 - Takes receipt of Pumper/Tanker
• January / February 2003 - Assists with the 2003 North East and Gippsland bushfire campaigns
• 13th May 2004 - Called to assist major fire at the Werribee High School A.K.A. Werribee Secondary College (Read The Age article)
• September 2004 - Pumper/Tanker replaced with Pumper
• February 2005 - Permanent station completed
• 30th April 2005 - Official Station opening
• 21st January 2006 - Assists with the 2006 Grampians and Brisbane Ranges bushfire campaigns
• July 2006 - MAS takes residence in the Point Cook Station whilst their station is being built
• January 2007 - Assists with various bushfire campaigns
• 9th March 2008 - First Career Staff move into station
• 5th April 2008 - Belly landing of Mustang at Point Cook RAAF base (Watch the video)
• 7th February 2009 - Black Saturday bushfire campaign