Gazette

John won’t forget

By Melissa Meehan

3rd February 2010 02:00:08 AM

BUNYIP CFA captain John Legione will never forget the devastation of the Black Saturday bushfires.

On the day he was based at Longwarry, as divisional commander for the area.

“My job was to co-ordinate firefighting efforts through the Incident Control Centre (ICC) to the fire ground,” he said.

“It was arduous and a challenging day but we managed.”

While not on the fire ground himself, Mr Legione said the main reports from crews fighting in the area were of the intensity and ferocity of the flames.

“Our guys were amazed by the fact that it was so unrelenting,” he said.

In the weeks following Black Saturday, Mr Legione said many members were sent to assist in the clean-up of Kinglake.

“It was a pretty traumatic time,” he said.

“The devastation was very confronting for our guys.”

Since the fires the Bunyip CFA has recruited three extra members, but Mr Legione isn’t sure whether the increase is due to the fires or a large recruitment drive in the months before Black Saturday.