(Images) On Saturday the 7^th of February 2009 the state faced extreme fire danger conditions that had never been seen before in the history of the CFA. All members of the CFA family spent the morning hoping that nothing would break out, however in the hours after 1300 all hell broke loose in the state of Victoria which lead to over 170 deaths and over 2000 properties being destroyed. For the next month fire fighters and emergency services from across Australia came to the aid of the Victorian community to offer support to the areas affected.

The Portarlington CFA was not called to assist on the 7^th as it was tasked along with other brigades in the area with protecting the Bellarine Peninsula as resources were stretched to the limits, however over the following month the brigade’s forward command vehicle was called away on a number of occasions to the east of Victoria and the brigades new tanker was called away to the King Lake Complex for 3 weeks to assist along with a large amount of members who volunteered their time doing 11 combined three day stints on the fire line over the course of the fire.