UNDULLAH old timer Max Wyatt has been honoured for his service to Woodhill Rural Fire Brigade at its milestone 50th birthday celebrations today.
Mr Wyatt, who turns 90 in March, was a fire warden playing watchman for a massive region that stretched through the rural southwest even before Woodhill had its own rural brigade.
His daughter Lee said he was one of seven men who founded the original Woodhill fire service and the last survivor of the group.
Mr Wyatt said carelessness had always been one of the key contributing factors to most bush fires that had raged through the region.
“People would throw matches and cigarettes away. Carelessness, that’s how things get started,” he said.
Mr Wyatt said Woodhill volunteers had fought some massive blazes over the years but recent bush fires at Undullah were among the worst he had seen.
Woodhill Rural Fire Brigade had been due to celebrate 50 years some weekends ago but cancelled to fight blazes that closed a nearby national park instead.
First officer Ben Heilbronn said Mr Wyatt had phoned in to report the blaze and feared the worst.
“He’d moved all his machinery out of his shed and he’d never done such a thing before,” he said.
Mr Wyatt cut the birthday cake and introduced us to his 11-week-old great grandson, also called Max, at 50th birthday celebrations at the station.
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“I suppose he could grow up to be a fire fighter. Anything is possible,” Mr Wyatt said.
Mr Wyatt was the oldest volunteer in the room at Woodhill yesterday.
The youngest were 17-year-old buddies Kyle Sammons and Saxon Dean. The pair graduated from Beaudesert High just a few weeks ago.
“I joined a few months ago and convinced Kyle to join too,” Saxon said.
Mr Heilbronn said the service had changed a lot over the years both in terms of administration and operations. Once funded by chook raffles, it now received its funding direct from government.
Woodhill volunteers received a range of awards yesterday presented by Wright MP Scott Buccholz, Scenic Rim MP Jon Krause and Rural Fire Service chief superintendent Alan Gillespie.
The minister and Queensland emergency services bosses made late apologies as they were required in the operations rooms as Queensland braced itself for the arrival of Cyclone Owen.
“It was suggested we cancel again, but I said no,” Mr Heilbronn said.
‘We’d already cancelled to fight bush fires. It takes a quite a bit of prep to make the station fit for public visits. We’ve done it twice. This time, I said, we go ahead rain, hail or shine.”
