Profile - Bob Lindsay

by Jodie Guest, CFA Public Affairs

Another of CFA’s long serving full-time firefighters is Bendigo’s Bob Lindsay, who’s been a staff member since October 1975, at the age of 22.

Like many full-timers, Bob’s been in CFA for longer than the term of his employment: he was a volunteer in 1969 and first joined a running team as a junior.

Additionally, he was the founding Secretary of Kangaroo Flat brigade at the age of just 14.

Bob said he wasn’t from a firefighting family, but used to live near the tip at Kangaroo Flat and it was “always on fire”, so that sparked his CFA involvement.

A painter and decorator by trade, Bob’s then-boss was one of the lieutenants at Kangaroo Flat and Bob became an apparatus officer at the age of 18.

Bob said although he could retire this July, he will “soldier on”. “I still have interest, I like helping other people through their troubles.”

Bob said his career began abruptly, without first going through Fiskville Training College for 16 weeks, as full-time firefighters do now. “On Thursday I was a painter and decorator and on the Friday I was a firefighter at Doveton (now Hallam). The firefighters assessed us for the first few hours.”

It wasn’t until eight months later that Bob and 15 others did training at Fiskville – eight were in the job and eight were “off the streets”.

Bob was stationed at Doveton for 12 months, then moved to Bendigo in 1976, when the station was in View St and was so old it had open wood fires. The current station began operation in 1984.

Bob is now a Leading Firefighter. Some jobs that stand out in his memory from his career include the Don West electrical department store fire, which happened during a nightshift when he was a “young firefighter.”

He was on the second pumper and firefighters spent the night at the store, which was destroyed. Bob estimated 500 people were watching the firefight, which was preceded by heavy black smoke from the store.

Then there was a fire in the Arcade. It was a two storey building and 20 shops were “alight from end to end” when firefighters arrived on scene. “There wasn’t much to save.”

And during last year’s Beulah silo fire, Bob and a workmate took the platform on a three hour drive to help extinguish the 200 tons of canola seed that had spontaneously combusted.

“That was memorable for its difficulty. We were working at maximum height and there was the risk of dust explosions.”

Bob said the major changes in CFA over the years included officer rostering reducing from 48 hours on duty to being aligned with platoons, the introduction of a more formal command and control structure, and the removal of watchroom duties, with Vicfire instead taking calls and sending out pages. And females have gone from being auxiliary members to career firefighters.

Bob said he’d been a crew leader in major campaign fires, in comparison to, for example, Ash Wednesday, when career firefighters – even those close to Macedon, such as at Bendigo – had no or little involvement.

“We’re now in the pool of resources. For morale and training, we need to be involved.”

Bob said having new career firefighters on station provided enthusiasm for all. “The training level the new firies bring into the place keeps us all going. I appreciate their enthusiasm and knowledge and being able to help them at the start of their career.”

When not on station for CFA, Bob is involved with Maiden Gully Lions Club, has renewed his love for motorbikes, is a rail fan who enjoys watching trains and has an extensive video collection of his rides in engine cabins, goes on caravanning holidays and restores old houses. He and his wife have two daughters, a son and three grandchildren, and are awaiting the birth of another in September.

(An abridged version of this article was first published in the Autumn 2008 edition of Brigade magazine)