By Charlene Gatt
HE’S hit retirement age, but Denis Brain is – almost – always on call.
The 65-year-old Yarraville man is Footscray State Emergency Service’s (SES) longest serving volunteer, having racked up nearly 40 years in the orange uniform.
His involvement began by chance when he moved to Footscray for work and wanted to upgrade his existing St John certificate.
The SES, then called the Civil Defence Service, offered training to non-members, and it was there Mr Brain learnt more about what the organisation did.
As Mr Brain puts it, “it’s been go, go, go since then”.
He has been involved in hundreds of call-outs, including last year’s bushfires, and said the most dangerous have been roof repairs in wet and windy weather.
He also designed Footscray SES’s purpose-built pumping trailer.
In 2007, Mr Brain was awarded a national medal at the Victorian SES awards for his long-term service to the organisation.
Mr Brain said he has loved “being involved and passing on my knowledge to new people, seeing them come up and become competent volunteers”.
“You get to go to places and do things that you wouldn’t normally do,” he said.
His philanthropic nature has rubbed off on his two daughters, with one volunteering at Northcote’s SES unit and the other having volunteered with him at Footscray.
Mr Brain retires from his full-time job at Tottenham’s KSB Australia this Friday, but wouldn’t think of doing the same with the SES.
“Now I’m retiring, it’s something for me to keep doing so I won’t get bored.”
