Fire captain plans to step down as new leaders show how ready they are

The Bendigo CFA brigade is this month celebrating its 125^th anniversary, while long-serving current firefighter Ian Ellis is preparing to step down as captain.

"I can't go on forever. You need a succession plan and for us that is the young ones who are coming up," he said.

Mr Ellis plans to step down as captain in 2025 and says the next generation is ready.

The Bendigo brigade is steeped in history.

It was formed from three separate brigades in 1899, after the heady Gold Rush period when people might turn up drunk to fires, or get into punch ups over the lucrative cash incentives for those deemed first on scene to incidents.

Behaviour could be so undisciplined that a teetotalling "temperance brigade" had to be founded, and that group was a key part of the amalgamation, in 1899, that formed Bendigo's CFA team.

Mr Ellis started with the brigade four decades ago when it was based in View Street, at what is now a theatre building.

"When I first joined they gave me a hat, a jacket and that's it," he said.

"It's all changed now with training, qualifications and all that."

Those shifts had made the brigade even better at defending Bendigo from bush and house fires, Mr Ellis said.

"The basic idea of how to fight a fire is the same - you've got to put it out - but how you do that is much more technical, and you size up house fires before you get into it because of the training you do," he said.

Third lieutenant Blair McCormick joined the CFA's juniors program at 13-years-old and has worked his way up to firefighting duties.

"It's been an awesome journey," he said.

"And it's been so rewarding, the deeper and deeper I've gone into it. You can compare it to a football club. You have that comradery."

Firefighter Jose Manga said Bendigo CFA had been able to attract new members even in a post-pandemic period when many volunteer groups had struggled.

"There's still interest in the community, which is great," he said.

"I suppose that the firefighting element has a different appeal [to some other volunteer activities]."