scone.com.auA Lifetime of Fighting Fires
KEITH Leven will turn 80 in a few weeks and since the age of 14 he has fought fires in the Cassilis area.
He had just left school and the crew needed more men, so he went with dad to his first fire.
Keith Leven has served the community of Cassilis and surrounds since he was 14 years old.
Keith began in Munmurra, which became part of the Mudgee area, then for Turill, which became part of the Cassilis brigade, but he said he has always been about 10 kilometres from Cassilis over the years.
“When I joined there was no trucks whatsoever in the fire brigade the best you would get was a rake and probably a pump if you were lucky and then you had to use your own utility to go to the fire,” said Mr Leven.
“Nowadays with the fire trucks they have, have everything you need which is a fair enough idea,” he said.
“With your own vehicles they’d often get damaged and you’d have to get them repaired, but with the fire trucks that is all taken care of,” he said.
Keith said he has lost count of the number of fires he has attended but there are some that stand out.
“There was a fire that came through from Dunedoo somewhere around 1975 and it went straight over the top of our heads and never even touched the ground so we had to get out quick,” he said.
“The fire balls came through and there was no chance of stopping it, it had travelled 50 or 60 kilometres in about 4 or 5 hours, so it was going,” he said.
“They got around it after a day or two when it calmed down a bit.
“Another was down in the settlement back in the 50’s we were down there for three or four days fighting down below Merriwa it came down the Goulburn River which is now national park, but we were there for days and sleeping under the lorries when we could, other blokes came in after a while to take over and I can’t remember how long that one went for.
“One of the most exciting was a b-double fuel tanker which was on fire.
“The fuel was burning and there was a big cloud of smoke going up, we didn’t know whether to go in or whether it was going to blow up and we should get back, we were on edge to know what to do,” he said.
“They sprayed the front tank of the truck with water and foam and they kept it cool enough so that it didn’t blow up,” he said.
“But all that was left of the back tanker was the back axle of the truck, everything else had melted, it was just a big blob on the ground it was that hot, but it was only four foot from the other tanker so we were glad it didn’t go up too,” Keith Leven said.
On Saturday the Cassilis Rural Bush Fire Service celebrated 20 years of serving the local community.
The NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons was there to congratulate the local volunteers and thank them for their service.
Keith Leven was awarded a life service membership.
“They gave me a plaque to hang on my wall and say I was a good bloke,” he laughed.
Keith encourages people to help with their local fire brigade, “I think they should get in and have a bit of a go because it’s important for local people to be doing this because they know where to go, where to source water and things.”
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