Robin Parsons was 16-years-old when he followed his father and brothers into the Country Fire Authority (CFA) as a volunteer reserve in 1962.
“I recall my father heading off to fight bushfires as a CFA volunteer when I was younger,” the 73-year-old said.
“When my brothers joined Geelong City Brigade, that motivated me to join and make the same contribution.
“I did two years as a junior volunteer firefighter before that, so it’s been a whole-life commitment.”
Fifty-eight years later, Mr Parsons still serves as a volunteer at Belmont Fire Brigade and has just received the Australian Fire Service Medal.
While no longer “operational”, the long-time firefighter supports the brigade through fundraising and “a little bit of training”.
“I see lots of members of staff who I have trained over the years,” he said.
“I can look at them and say, ‘that’s turned out pretty good’. There’s still just as many people wanting to volunteer.”
Mr Parsons became an active firefighter in 1963 after joining Geelong City Brigade the year before, and 10 years later he achieved his goal of becoming a career staff member.
“I volunteered under a number of excellent mentors and as I gained more experience, I tried to model myself after them.”
Mr Parsons went on to work in high-level training and operational positions throughout his career.
According to CFA, he became an “eminent source of information” in the Australasian Inter-Service Incident Management System (AIIMS), which helps coordinate different emergency services in joint responses.
“I loved both sides of my involvement with the CFA,” he said.
“I found enjoyment in teaching other members the AIIMS structure in the classroom, but I also loved being out on the fire ground with other brigade members.”
The “destruction and loss of life” from the Black Saturday Bushfires in 2009 are still “firmly etched” in Mr Parson’s memory.
He worked in Traralgon and Woori Yallock as an operations manager and deputy incident controller during the fires, which claimed 173 lives across Victoria.
“We were basically working four shifts of 12 to 14 hours and then would have a few days off,” he said.
While working in Woori Yallock, Mr Parsons told a volunteer firefighter from a nearby town that he was doing a “fantastic job”.
“He said, ‘I’ve lost my house and I’ve lost my business, so I might as well come fight the fires here’,” he said.
To Mr Parsons, that man epitomised the dedication of CFA volunteers to their “extremely important” work.
