VALE Ian H Bennett

3 April 1946 – 1 February 2023

Living a couple of hundred metres from the Fire Station, Ian joined the Gisborne fire brigade in 1968. From that time, he developed a life-long passion as a volunteer fire-fighter, administrator and innovator.

Ian and his family maintained one of the six FRS phones in the town prior to the introduction of the EAS paging system which we currently use today.

After university, Ian taught science at Gisborne Secondary College. The Brigade took advantage of his chemistry knowledge by getting him to provide hazardous materials training (there wasn’t much in the way of personal protective clothing or equipment back then) and he was the go-to person for all hazmat matters.

Over the years Ian served nine years as the Brigade secretary, Mount Macedon Group communications officer and secretary of the Region 14 VUFBA Council.

The innovator and administrator in Ian are best exemplified by his time as Region 14 VUFBA Council secretary where he successfully pushed to amalgamate the Rural and Urban Region 14 Councils into one entity, the precursor to today’s Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria. Ian was awarded a VUFBA Gold Star for his service to the association.

During his term as the Mount Macedon Group communications officer, Ian was heavily involved in the response and recovery from the Ash Wednesday