YARRAWONGA, VIC. — The future of the Yarrawonga Fire Brigade looks bright, as 19 new junior members have eagerly run through the fire station doors since January, ready to learn the ropes – and hoses.
This September, for Youth Fest 2026, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) will be 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 has been a big jump from the five they started with last year when they reignited the junior program for the first time in 20 years.
“We kept our recruitment and awareness activities pretty similar to last year, which included a couple of school visits,” Renee said.
“But I think it has just been word of mouth from the kids talking about it at school. They just kept pouring in!
“I think 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 is pleased that out of the 19 new juniors, more than half of them are women.
“It’s so positive to see 11 new women – regardless of age, within our brigade and around the fire station,” Renee said.
“There are only two other women alongside me who are current members. They are operational firefighters too.
“There are a couple of children who 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.”
With more than 20 juniors now regularly attending 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. There were a group of seniors showing them what we use that for and then they got to use the technology,” Renee said.
“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.
