The Birth Of Tyabb Fire Brigade.

A meeting was held in the Tyabb hall, called by Mr M. A Smedley to form a fire brigade in the Tyabb area.
There were 64 people present at the meeting including 6 executive members from the Somerville fire brigade to help answer with any queries concerning the fire brigade.
A motion was moved by Mr P.Mair and seconded by councilor Alden that a bush fire brigade be formed in the Tyabb area, the motion was carried and the following office bearers were elected:

Secretary - Mr W.Ster
President - Cr.Alden
Vice President - Mr A.Smedley
Treasurer - Mr J.Shaw
Committee -P.Thornell, R.Burley, A.Oppy, P.Mair, R.Morly

The next meeting was scheduled for 10/8/1944.

Brigades first appliance/equipment.

The first brigade unit was a trailer equipped with a hand pump hose beaters and knapsacks, later the pump was converted to a petrol driven pump, it was towed by members cars, having a rostered system.

10/08/1944

Again the meeting was held in the Tyabb hall, Mr J.Shaw moved a motion that the Tyabb Bush Fire Brigade be registered with the Victorian bush fire brigade association, a motion was carried.

Brigade boundaries were set as:
Stumpy Gully Road to the west
Bungower Road to the north
Graydens Road/Bayview Road to the south
and Westernport Bay to the east.

Financial membership would be 2/6 per year Election of officers were called for positions of:

Captain - A.Smedley was elected
1st lieutenant - R.Murray was elected
2nd lieutenant - R.Burley was elected
Equipment officer - P.Thornell was elected.
There were 72 financial members present at this meeting.

05/12/1945

Tyabb bush fire brigade joined the Country Fire Authority as a rural fire brigade.
Brigade meetings were held in the Tyabb hall until 28/02/1956, when the first recorded meeting was held in a fire station (tin shed), at Tyabb.
Fire Station No1, location was peacocks lane near car wreckers (saw mill). The station was built by brigade members with materials being donated by the Tyabb co op cool stores.

21/01/1957

Tyabb's first tanker.

The ford blitz 4x4 long wheel base was bought by the brigade, it was equipped with a square tank, a petrol motor driven pump. The old blitz was very slow on the road but once at the fire it could go anywhere. The blitz was in service from 21/01/1957 - 23/06/1965.

19/02/1959

Brigade requested CFA to build a new station. The railways were approached for a block of land at Mornington/Tyabb road for the purpose of building a new fire station. Things moved slowly and the location is next door to the Tyabb railway station, still it's current location. Things moved slowly.

17/04/1961

Land was leased from the railway and a tender granted to Mr G.Shaw a local builder and a brigade member to build a new fire station (another tin shed) Cost of new station would be £495 and the CFA went £ for £ with the brigade. It was only a shell lift up door at front, 1 window and a backdoor with concrete floor, no toilets or meeting room to hold meetings, the appliances were taken out and meetings held in the engine bay, very cold in winter.
Fire station No2.

23/06/1965

The Austin S.T.U (small town unit) supplied by the CFA arrived (first CFA supplied tanker). The austin had a round tank holding 2000 litres of water and petrol motor driven pump, it had no heat shielding, just a pipe railing around the edge of the tray.
The austin saw service on some task forces (strike teams) as well as serving in the Upper Beaconsfield area on ash wednesday, it was gone for 4 days.
Not long after that the austin was fitted with heat shields.

27/09/1965

Birth of Tanker 2.
Tyabb Tanker 2 started out as a box, containing 2 branches 4 lengths of 1 1/4 hose, 1 hydrant hose key, and 2 fireman's axes, plus 1 length od 2 1/2 hose and adapters.
From small acorns do big oak trees grow. The brigade felt there was a need for equipment to be left in town when the tanker was away, so as the equipment became available the box was quickly outgrown, so a second trailer unit was built.

18/05/1978

The brigade bought a 6x4 trailer, mounted the quick fill pump onto it and transferred all the equipment from the box to the trailer, as well as adding more hose and more branches, it had to be towed by members vehicles, so in early 1982 the brigade started looking around for a suitable small truck to replace the trailer with.

15/02/1982

As the brigade now had 2 tankers and no toilet or meeting room the brigade approached the CFA for permission to extend current station or to build a new station, the brigade was put on a waiting list for a new station, like I said things moved slowly.

13/06/1982

The brigade after much searching decided to purchase a second hand 69 model dodge 2 tonne tray truck costing $1400, after fitting a cross section body and adding a tank Tyabb Tanker 2 was born, it was nicknamed by the group "the mobile knapsack" as it only carried 850 litres of water, the brigade later added a step to the tank and increased it's capacity to 1000 litres. All the equipment from the trailer was transferred to the new truck also adding to it a ladder, some more hose, lighting and a locktronics warning device, the brigade also purchased a third radio to put into the new tanker 2.

28/04/1984

As the dodge by now was ageing the CFA was becoming concerned about maintenance and road worthiness, so the brigade once again started looking for a suitable replacement.
We found a unit to best fit our needs which was a CFA ford 4x4 f350 1.4 tanker, so the brigade started to fund raise.
With the help of the Westernport lions club and other service clubs in the area we were able to raise the funds needed to purchase the 1983 Ford F350 with low kilometres and costing the brigade $1300.00.
After many hours of work put in by brigade members building the body to CFA requirements, Tyabb tanker 2 was commissioned, known as a quick response unit, emphasis being on the quick. (compared to previous vehicles). The brigade also fitted a grascos mark 100 petrol driven motor pump, along with all the equipment from the dodge. The ford saw some service in other support areas that is until CFA's policy on brigade owned vehicles going away changed.

25/03/1985

The CFA supplied a standard kit station (still a tin shed) and the brigade purchased 2 extra bays at a cost of $4000.00. With the help of brigade member and builder Jim Harris members of the brigade erected the kit station. The whole job of removing the old station and erecting the new station took just over one month from start to finish, but at this stage was still only a shell, over the next 12 months the brigade continued to work on the station installing a kitchen, toilets and a watch room/office.

12/06/1987

CFA decides to replace the old austin with a new Isuzu 2.2d CFA Tanker, this is the 2nd tanker to be supplied by the CFA, The isuzu as well as servicing the local area has also serviced on strike team duties both local and other such areas like Mt Macedon, Berwick, Frankston, and Edithvale wetlands to mention a few.
The brigade once again with pressure from the CFA started at looking for a replacement of Tanker 2, so more fund raising and loans of brigade members helped to purchase a new isuzu cab chassis along with a second hand CFA tray/body from the CFA, a new lumber drive diesel pump, and new lights.
After a lot of hard work was put in Tyabb Tanker 2 the 3rd was born and nicknamed the show pony as it had the new aluminium bull bars fitted to it.

04/07/2005

Brigade again decides to extend to the current station to include a bigger engine bay, separate change room rather than down beside trucks, a bigger meeting room plus a workshop and therefore removing the unsightly construction container from site.
CFA and Vicrail are approached once again. Also the current Tanker 2 is coming up to it's CFA allowed life span and again is in need of replacement, so again back to fundraising and a lot of hard work.