THE Woodhill Rural Fire Brigade crew is celebrating 50 years of service with a community ball on December 2 from 7pm.
First officer Ben Heilbronn said it was a great achievement. “50 years is a significant length of time to for a community to have shown resilience and want to protect themselves against fire,” he said.
Mr Heilbronn said he welcomed the community to celebrate the milestone.
“Come for a great night for fun and to dance and celebrate with volunteers to meet those who support the community,” he said.
Mr Heilbronn said it was a time to acknowledge the brigade had grown from controlling bush fires to providing further assistance to the community.
Max Wyatt, who was one of the first men to form the brigade, said the brigade began with seven farmers who attended a community meeting.
“We coped it day after day, every year we had a certain time in August we had to watch out for fires,” he said. “We knew something had to be done because there was no one from Boonah to Jimboomba who could control the fires.”
He said he recalled a significant bushfire about 50 years ago which took weeks to put out.
“It came through here, from Greenbank all the way to Jimboomba and it burnt all the trees down,” he said. “It took about 10 years for the trees to recover.”
Ticket costs $65 for the event and will include a three course buffet. All proceeds will go to burns unit at the Children's Hospital.
RSVP by November 15 at tptait55@gmail.com.