Six years ago, members of the Junortoun Fire Brigade noticed something.

Their town was growing, and with an increasing population came an increased risk the new neighbours seemingly appearing on every second street corner would be affected by fire and need their help.

But with no up-to-date figures on population growth available, planning for potential emergencies would be difficult, so members decided to take matters into their own hands.

Rather than using their downtime from work commitments and an already busy schedule of emergency training and response, they dedicated themselves to painstakingly cataloging every new home.

Brigade captain Luke Carracher explains:

“There was a lack of accurate data on the number of houses, or the population in our area, so six years ago we undertook the huge task of actually going around counting properties in the area, which we repeat every two years,” he said.

When faced with the suggestion that such a task seemed like a Herculean effort for the entirely volunteer-staffed brigade, Mr Carracher’s response is forthright.

“Bloody oath it is,” he said.

“It probably takes a team of four people a couple of weeks to complete, just driving around counting properties.”

While the effort is typical of the brigade’s commitment to the community it serves, it is also emblematic of one of the biggest challenges facing the tight-knit group.

An increasing population means more volunteers are needed, and the brigade’s current home – a modest building constructed in 1983 – is bursting at the seams, with members at times forced to work out in the street while their colleagues direct traffic.

“One of our OH&S concerns is the fact there’s not enough room on site because we’ve only got a very small site,” Mr Carracher said.

“We’ve actually got to move off site to clean and maintain our equipment which includes making use of the road.”

Since that time Mr Carracher says Junortoun’s population has likely expanded by almost a quarter, and while the Country Fire Authority have been supportive, he says they’re “hamstrung by their budget constraints” and unable to cover the cost of a new facility right now.

“It’s all happening fairly quickly, given our population increase,” he said.

“CFA are certainly happy to help us but there’s just a process that it’s all got to go through and it’s all got to be budgeted for.”

And while Mr Carracher stressed the brigade was still able to operate at full capacity, with no threat to public safety in the growing hamlet, the situation was less than ideal.

“Our current station’s fairly primitive, it’s starting to have some minor safety issues and that sort of thing, so we’ve really outgrown the station basically,” he said.

“We’ve got a lot of houses out there now, which is steadily increasing so we need to increase our level of equipment and we need suitable storage for that and properly functioning amenities for our members.”

But with an exemplary track record for pulling their own weight – having previously successfully raised $65,000 for a desperately needed new fire truck – the brigade’s 45 members will not be sitting around waiting for a hand out.

“We’ve really got no alternative, we’ve got to wait our turn basically, for our replacement station to be budgeted for,” Mr Carracher said.

“But we’re going to have to contribute to the cost of building that station, so we’ve put plans in place to start raising money for our contribution so that when the CFA’s ready, we’re also ready to go with our funds and commitment for the future.”

In the meantime, the next round of counting is set to begin in spring.

CFA District 2 operations manager Steve Smith said the organisation regularly reviewed the need for future fire station upgrades and replacements, in line with local growth management strategies.

“The Junortoun community is well protected by members of the local brigade, who are well equipped to respond to incidents and emergencies,” he said.

“All upgrades and new fire stations are prioritised based on risk, taking into account a number of factors such as predicted growth in the area, and how service delivery can be maintained now and into the future.

“This is further balanced and informed by local, regional and state priorities.”