W.A. Bush Fire Museum and Heritage group

A new exhibition complex is being established in Yornup to house the vehicles and equipment belonging to W.A. Bush Fire Museum and Heritage Group.

The WA Bush Fire Museum and Heritage Group has six members: Chris Sousa is the Chair person, with members Judy Bland, Ed Bland, Ray Harding, Chris Doherty and Lyndon Pearce.

“The group recently signed a lease for twenty-one years on the land alongside the Yornup Hall and has built a large shed which will be the groups new museum building.” Chris Sousa explains.

“The shed was built from the proceeds of a grant the group received from the Native Forest Transition Grants Program and is the first step in providing a suitable display area for the group’s sixteen vehicles, historical objects, memorabilia and artefacts.

“The Museum will also be an educational facility giving the visitors an insight in to how bush fire control has developed and improved over the years.

“All the sixteen fire fighting vehicles in the museum have had a significant influence on the development of fire fighting in this state, with improvement in safety for the fire fighters, vehicle development and the clothing worn which all go to help tell the story and development of fighting bush fires.

“On the grounds surrounding the museum we intend to have a display of a fire suppressing garden. It’s intended that the plants and trees around the museum will be mostly be a fire-resistant variety with the ground cover mulch surrounding the building made up of roughly crushed building waste comprising brick, cement and stone.

“This new building is the beginning of the plans we have for the museum site, there is a need for us to provide toilets, a parking area, and lean-to buildings along the museum to house the equipment which needs protection from the weather.

“Some of the museum vehicles are now stored in the open in a couple of different locations around town and our intention is to have it all brought onto this site.

“The W.A. Bush Fire Museum and Heritage Group is dedicated to collecting, preserving and displaying the history of Volunteer Bush Fire Brigades and other firefighting agencies involved in bush fire prevention and management within Western Australia.

“What this dedicated group have achieved so far is result from a few government grants, raising money by attending shows and festivals with a fire truck display and by working at Blues festival and festivals in Balingup collecting rubbish, along with a ‘containers for change’ program.

“The group is also dedicated to promoting fire safety in the rural environment in an effort to prevent devastating fire from occurring across the state.

“The museum is currenting housed in a unit in the Packing Sheds on Hampton Street, opposite the Fire Station. It is open now on the second Saturday of each month.

“The packing shed which is dark and dusty is not a conducive environment for displaying the equipment and vehicles we have in our care and is stifling further growth of the museum, hence the move.”

Chris Sousa has always had an absolute passion for the collection of fire fighting memorabilia, beginning his collection at the age of ten when he started collecting brigade badges, and then fire extinguishers, then through the ages, moving to collecting firefighting appliances and vehicles, it seems he has found his perfect job being a member of the WA Bush Fire Museum and Heritage Group.

Chris concludes with, “It is anticipated the museum will be an important showcase in displaying the history of fighting bush fires in Western Australia.”

The vehicle in the picture is a 1966 C1300 International Tanker with a carrying capacity of approximately 1000 litres

It was purchased brand new by the then Shire of Armadale for the Roleystone Bush Fire Brigade. It was later transferred to the Westfield Bush Fire Brigade as a Brigade owned tanker.

In 1987 this unit was being used for a controlled burn along Westfield Road when a car hit and fatally injured one of the Brigade’s members, Mr John Giacomelli. After this incident the truck then underwent a major refit of emergency beacons, including grill and rear mounted flashing lights, which was unusual for Bush Fire Brigade vehicles at the time.

Roads are now also closed off when units are used for controlled burns or fighting fires purposes.

The Westfield Brigade sold the truck in 1994 after the Armadale Council directed that only Council-owned fire units were permitted. The vehicle was then purchased by the Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes for the Greenbushes Bush Fire Brigade (BFB) as a ‘temporary appliance’. It was part of the Greenbushes BFB fleet until 2003, when it was relocated to the Yornup Bush Fire Brigade. It was replaced with a 2.4 Broadacre tanker in 2006, forty years after being put into service.