General News
18 January, 2026
How local firies prepared for catastrophic day
THE temperature was already scooting into the 30s when more than a dozen volunteers arrived at Inglewood fire station on Friday morning.
They had spent the week preparing to keep people safe and defend towns ahead of the catastrophic fire rating day.
A community information session the previous evening had been attended by many residents wanting advice on bushfire safety.
Brigade captain Andrew Smith pointed to a map of the Inglewood district - a town surrounded by forest. The best advice he offered for people concerned how they would cope on a day of high temperatures and strong winds was to head into Bendigo that night or the next morning.
Mr Smith and other brigade members had been part of briefings from emergency services in the days leading to last Friday.
“We started preparing a week ago and making sure we had enough for all the crews.”
A Forest Fire Management Victoria ultralight vehicle was part of the arsenal at Inglewood station on Friday.
From 8am they were at the station, monitoring CFA radios and pagers, the Vic Emergency live-time map on a large television screen. “We have five crews ready if called,” Mr Smith said.
Volunteers minutes from being on trucks to other areas, others staying in their home town ready to answer the call.
Brigade communications officer Elissa Wilson used the waiting time attending tasks like checking pager batteries.
“We were here last night making sure truck water tanks were filled and testing hoses,” she said.
Among the volunteers was John Rostron who joined six months ago, transferring from the Strathfieldsaye brigade after he retired to Inglewood. Younger brigade members alternated between honing their cricket skills and the main muster room where they pitted their colouring skills against each other, a CFA community safety information drawing turning red and yellow.
When the call came for Inglewood and other Loddon South group brigades to head to the Harcourt fire, the truck and forward command vehicle was heading south on the Calder Highway with minutes. Within hours, trucks from as far north as Sea Lake travelled the same route.
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