About Us

Farmers were probably the first fire fighters at Wardell because they lived on the outskirts of town where the agricultural land provided a buffer between the bush and the residential areas, and because they had some useful fire fighting knowledge and equipment. Whenever a fire started, all the farmers in the vicinity of the fire would gather to control it and put it out. If reinforcements were needed, extra volunteers were called from the pub.

Foremost amongst the volunteers were the farmers Lewis Ford, Bill Attewell, Trevor Monti, Harry Law, Ray Walsh and Duncan Sutherland. Arthur Payne and Ian Gibson were grader drivers for Tintenbar Shire, and always turned out to help when needed. Andy Wilson was invariably there with a truck, and Jack Clark had a small truck with a water tank. When Jim Sawyer was appointed as the new policeman in Wardell he maintained an interest in firefighting for the length of his stay in the village.

What little equipment was available was stored under the stage at the rear of the Community Hall. There were no funds, no bank accounts, and no formal meetings. If money was needed, a raffle was held to raise the cash. Tintenbar Council provided a trailer to carry the knapsacks and other equipment. There was no pump at first. This was fitted in 1974. The trailer was towed by the first farmer's vehicle to hook up to it. The original fire shed, which had been the Tintenbar grader shed, was moved to its location on the river bank by the community hall.

In February and March of 1974, disastrous floods devastated parts of the Richmond River area and Wardell residents rallied to assist with evacuations and relief work. On 18 Nov 1974 the first formal Annual Meeting was held in the Wardell Memorial Hall. Present at the meeting were 20 people. The outgoing Captain was Harry Law. The new committee was:- Captain Noel Wilson, Vice Captain Bill Lock, and President Ray Collyer. Area Captains were appointed. In December 1974 a meeting was held with Council, the area to be protected by the Wardell Fire Brigade was defined as : East of the Richmond River from South Ballina to Boundary Creek, from the Broadwater at Bagotville to Marom Creek, Rous Mill, Rous, Lynwood, Uralba, and Duck Creek.

The Brigade received its first fire truck - a Dodge - on 24 December 1977. During the floods of the 1980s Fire Brigade members were active in assisting with the evacuation of residents of Cabbage Tree Island, and the subsequent welfare and catering needs, when the emergency centre was set up in the Wardell Community Hall. A new shed supplied by Tintenbar Council was erected on the site of the present Fire Station by the members. The Dodge tanker served the Brigade well over the years and was replaced in 1995 with an Isuzu Category 1 tanker that increased the capability of the Brigade with Four-wheel drive configuration and a much larger water carrying capacity. More recently the original Isuzu and Toyota were replaced with modern Mitsubishi Category 7 and Isuzu Category 1 appliances, giving Wardell the ability to combat most incidents with safety and effectiveness.

Whilst most of the firefighting is carried out in the area allocated to the Brigade. It is not uncommon for crews to be sent to the aid of other Brigades in times of emergency. As well as fire emergencies, the Brigade assists in times of flood and storms bringing food and other resources to people in need. Members of the Brigade have served in many of the larger incidents that have plagued NSW and Southern Queensland in the 1990's, and the early part of this century, including the Sydney storms of 2000 and the disastrous fires in Canberra and Sydney in 2003. The Brigade continues to attend the multitude of incidents that occur locally.

• Written by George (Mike) Rushby
• Original badge image supplied by George (Mike) Rushby
• Bridge & sunset images by Karl Hearn (webmaster)