Mt Macedon Fire Brigade held an official opening for its new fire station, providing larger and more modern facilities for volunteers.
The $4.04 million station was built on Mt Macedon Road and will replace the brigade’s previous 42-year old station.
The state government provided more than $4 million in funding to acquire the land and build the replacement station.
CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan said tat the new station features modern facilities that will improve service to the Mt Macedon community.
“The new station features a three-bay drive through motor room capable of storing modern firefighting vehicles,” Mr Heffernan said.
“It also has a rear training yard, a hose drying tower, male and female turnout facilities, a workshop, a brigade office and communications room, a multi-purpose training room and kitchen.”
Mt Macedon CFA captain Tim Slattery said the new building is another great advancement for the brigade.
“It’s incredible to see how far we’ve come from the early days where firefighting equipment was housed in a shed owned by the Water Trust board, to this modern fit-for-purpose facility,” Mr Slattery said.
Mr Slattery said the construction of the station was “a long time in the making”, where Melbourne University architecture students produced renovation designs to the previous station in 2017.
Mr Slattery said providing this academic opportunity “became the champion to the brigade’s cause to receive funding for a new station,” with the brigade providing $38,000 from community donations for improvements to the base design.
The official opening event included an awards ceremony, with 50-year medals awarded to former CFA board member and Mt Macedon captain Kerry Murphy (who was also named a life member) and Christopher Fleming.
The brigade also celebrated a combined total of nearly 300 years of service from 14 of the members.
Oscar Parry
