In 1991,14-year-old Will Hodgson boarded a bus home from Fiskville after a CFA training session, unaware that over the next 34 years, the organisation would become a central part of his life.
What began as a way to help his community following the Warrandyte bushfires that year has grown into a lifelong commitment to fire and emergency services, where he is now a full-time employee with Fire Rescue Victoria, seconded to CFA as the pad supervisor at the Victorian Emergency Management Training Centre Central Highlands in Ballan.
He is also the captain of the Warrandyte Fire Brigade.
“During the fires in ’91, I remember feeling helpless watching the helicopters and fire trucks as smoke filled the air. I made a phone call to the North Warrandyte brigade and haven’t looked back since,” Mr Hodgson said.
“I’ve been turning out since I was 14 years of age – the rules were a bit different back then,” he said.
“I spent 16 and a half years at North Warrandyte, then transferred to Christmas Hills and then on to Warrandyte and moved through the officer ranks in all three brigades.”
His professional career with CFA began in 2008 as a PAD operator at Bangholme, and over the years, he has taken on several roles – including working on the Road Crash Rescue Support Project.
He has been deployed to some of CFA’s most significant incidents, including the 1997 Peninsula fires and Dandenong Ranges Fires, the 2009 Black Saturday fires, 2019–20 Black Summer Fires, and interstate deployments.
“The Black Saturday fires were particularly significant for us in the Lower Yarra Group, with Kinglake and Kinglake West being heavily impacted.”
Reflecting on his journey, he said he did not expect his involvement would become a career, but was “lucky enough to turn a hobby into a career and a passion.”
“I’d never have dreamt that the 14-year-old on a bus to Fiskville would one day be responsible for CFA’s training facility. Set yourself a dream, you never know what’s possible.”
