Travelling during the FDP
Lithium-ion Battery Safety
October 2026
Newstead Fire Brigade responded to Support Franklinford to a Shed fire. On arrival the small shed was fully involved in fire.
September 2026
Newstead Fire Brigade members atended prop training at the Castlemaine fire station, with new and seasoned members put through there paces.
August 2026
Members from the Newstead Fire Brigade attended the Huntly training facility for our annual traing day. good weather greated members as they tested their skills on a number of training drills.
July 2026
An early start to the day for members of our brigade, with the brigade paged out at 2.25 am to a report of a single motor vehicle accident with possible persons trapped. On arrival a car had hit a power pole at Welshmans Reef with no driver to be found, the pole had snapped in half bringing the power lines down. The brigade then set up some traffic management along with the support from the Maldon Fire Brigade, with the police trying to track down the driver, no luck there!
May 2026
 Newstead CFA celebrated our members and their contribution to the brigade and our broader community with our annual dinner and awards night.
The following members were recognised for their outstanding efforts:
Anne-Marie Flenley – 10 year medal,
John Bell – 20 year medal,
Florence Hepburn – 45 year medal,
Carmel Longmire – 45 year medal,
Janet Trudgeon – 45 year medal (posthumous),
John Alexander – inducted as a CFA Life Member and awarded 45 year medal,
Lyndsay O’toole – 55 year CFA Life Member medal.
Brigade awards were presented to the following members:
Ray Stevenson was awarded the Russell Hodges Firefighter of the Year award,
Anne Perkins was awarded the Captains Award, and
Jono Chaney received the Rookie of the Year Award.
A special thank you and certificate of appreciation was presented to Scott and Melissa Chaney from the Newstead Country Store in recognition of their continued support in fundraising endeavours.
Lastly, and certainly by no means not the least, Grant and Kathy MacDonald were presented with a certificate of appreciation in honour of their involvement and contribution to the community for the past 27 years.
All in all, a great night shared by nearly all brigade members. Unfortunately, a few members couldn’t be with us on the night, but they were certainly in our thoughts.
May 2026
This morning, Newstead brigade played hosts to member from Maldon Fire Brigade for a combined training session, focusing mainly on how we can improve interoperability and familiarizing ourselves with our combined resources.
We spent an hour down at the river using our Bigfill to draw water out of the river and pump it up to Maldon’s pumper and then delivered that water to multiple hose lines including a ground monitor, a large water delivery system anchored to the ground that delivers incredibly high water flow rates, beyond what can be delivered by hand lines. These would be used at large structure fires where significant volumes of water are required over a lengthy period of time. The two appliances worked well together and the amount of water we were able to move was remarkable. Individual members also had an opportunity to experience the force reaction of large volume branches. Used primarily for structure fire response, some of these branches are capable of flow rates up to 570 litres per minute.
All in all, a great session and opportunity to further develop our working relationship with one of our neighboring brigades, further enhancing the capability we can provide to our local communities. Thanks to the crews from Maldon Fire Brigade for your attendance.
Some photos of the training session will be posted shortly.
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