On Sunday the 24^th of May the Portarlington fire brigade held its annual afternoon tea in the bosuns room of the Portarlington Grand Hotel. The afternoon tea is held to award such awards as Life time achievement awards along with the Captains award, The Hydrant award and certificates of appreciation for the business’s and individuals that have offered outstanding support over the past year to the brigade.

(Images) In the third week of March the bi-annual Australian International Air Show was held at Avalon airfield 10kms north of Geelong. As the CFA supports the ARFF (Aviation and Rescue Fire Fighting service) there is a requirement for the CFA to provide additional volunteer and staff support during the event.

The Portarlington CFA was more then happy to provide 9 members during the 3 days to assist in all different types of duties from crew leaders to bus drivers. With 3 members being present on Saturday when high winds caused chaos and flipped at least 4 light air craft in the high winds.

Every year the Portarlington CFA Members assist the Charity Carnival to raise money for the  purchase vital equipment to support the brigade’s operations.

We like to thank the Brigade Members, Families and Friends for giving there time to help raise funds.

The Charity Carnival operates from 24th December until Mid January every year on the Foreshore

The Portarlington urban fire brigade entered two team into the annual Geelong Agricultural Show bale of hay competition on the 16th and 17th of October.

The aim of the competition is to simulate a grass fire where the brigade uses a tanker to extinguish the blaze that is lit in a controlled environment. The competition was held in two heats on the Thursday and Friday nights at 19:00 with Portarlington entering a team on each individual night.

The results for each team was as followed:
The Thursday team had a clear run and clocked up a time of 41.85 seconds for their run which was not good enough to get a place but good for a team of mostly new recruits.
The Friday night team that consisted of some experienced firefighters and clocked a time of 34.05 which would have given them 2nd for the night, however it was not a clear run and the team was disqualified for missing a small patch of fire.

The overall winner of the event was the team from Geelong City fire brigade who also won Thursday night with a time of 32.76 seconds with the Friday night victory going to a team from our neighbouring brigade Drysdale with a time of 33.25.