A fiery evening

A COMBINED 335 years of firefighting service was recognised in Monomeith last week at the Lang Lang Fire Brigade’s award presentation night.
Over 100 members, friends and invited guests attended the dinner held at Warrook Cattle Farm at Monomeith.
Two 50 year service medals were presented to ex-captain Gordon Sampson and firefighter Ray McPherson by CFA District 8 operations officer, Michael Owen.
CFA board member David Gibbs presented a National Medal to Second Lieutenant Scott Hamilton. The National Medal is for a minimum of 15 years diligent service and is recommended by the peers of the recipient. It is one of the highest awards available within CFA and the emergency services.
The award was a result of a joint nomination from both the Lang Lang Fire Brigade and the Sebastopol Fire Brigade from Ballarat.
The award was very popular with members from eight neighbouring brigades and three fire brigades groups, as well as Sebastopol and Buninyong brigades from near Ballarat, who attended.
Scott has been a volunteer with CFA for 21 years at Lang Lang and Sebastopol – serving as a brigade officer for 17 of those years.
Scott is also a popular staff member with CFA, having been employed for 18 years, which included a stint at Pakenham between 2002 and 2005. He is presently based in Ballarat.
The night was also an excellent opportunity for Lang Lang’s emergency services to come together and socialise.
The Lang Lang Police and CERT attended, which made for a great evening.
The Lang Lang Community Bank Branch donated $20,000 towards the cost of a new lighting/staging support vehicle which was formally presented by executive officer Tanya Hansen to CFA board member David Gibbs. He then presented the keys to First Lieutenant Michelle Venten to accept on behalf of the brigade.
The Lang Lang Memorial Hall Opportunity Shop also presented the brigade with two new Australian light towers to assist with incident scene lighting and staging area duties.
President Paul King presented the two light towers (which cost $8000) to the brigade and these have already been utilised with great success.