EARLIER this month, staff and life members joined representatives from the Shire of Mundaring and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Mundaring Firefighters School.

The May 3 gathering marked three decades of operation for an institution built on the motto ‘Volunteers Training Volunteers’.

School chairperson Neil Hawkins reflected on the milestone and the facility’s role in the region’s safety.

“Aside from the Forrestfield Training Academy run by DFES, we are the only place where there is a regularly scheduled calendar of training courses throughout the year that people can book into,” he said.

“We are also the only 100 per cent volunteer-run, accredited training academy certainly in the state, and we’re fairly certain in Australia, for this type of training.”

The school was founded in response to Western Australia’s fragmented training landscape prior to the 1980’s.

During that period, the Bushfires Board provided only basic information, forcing local brigades to train their own units and creating large skill discrepancies across the state.

By the late 1980’s, the board introduced 12 standard modules, but brigades still had to compete for limited placements at their Kensington headquarters.

Local volunteers John Duff, Eric Rose, Merv Potts, John Allen, and Doug Monk decided to establish a professional, and accessible local structure.

They created administrative positions, policies, and procedures required for a high-level firefighting school and sought support from the Shire of Mundaring.

The shire granted its backing in 1996, forming the school under the Brigade Training Officers committee.

Mr Hawkins noted that the founder’s foresight laid the groundwork for today’s firefighting standards.

“By bringing it together and working as a group across the whole of the shire, they ensured that we had the same training provided by all our volunteers,” he said.

“That has obviously been maintained and grown over the last 30 years, allowing us to ensure consistency and the highest quality of training.”

The school initially operated out of various fire sheds before moving to the disused Hillston Anglican Boys Farm in Stoneville in 1996, the old Stoneville Hall in 1999, and its current home at the former Stoneville Playgroup building in 2022.

Mr Hawkins recalled the early days in Stoneville looked quite different from today’s strict safety standards.

“Hot fire training used to be setting fire to things in the old pig shed, which we certainly couldn’t get away with now,” he said.

The school remains a highly visible part of the community, as Mr Hawkins recalled a recent training session at Chidlow Oval, where local children from the adjacent BMX track turned a hot day into an impromptu celebration by riding through the water spray.

“As soon as we started spraying water, all the kids started racing across riding their bikes through the rain we were creating with the hose,” he said.

“Much to the consternation of their mothers because they were getting wet… but everybody got dirty, everybody got wet, and everybody had a whale of a time.”

Over its 30-year history, the school has trained more than 9000 students, significantly boosting regional emergency response capabilities.

Mr Hawkins thanked the Shire of Mundaring for providing a major events grant for the anniversary celebration and acknowledged DFES and the Bushfire Centre of Excellence for donating vital material, props, and equipment.

“Whilst we’re completely volunteer-run and organised, we couldn’t really do it without the support of the shire and DFES,” he said.