By BLAKE METCALF-HOLT

 

A FIRE-FIGHTING volunteer for more than 30 years, Yallourn North resident Mark King was a recipient of the Australian Fire Service Medal during the 2025 Australia Day honours.

Mr King admitted he wasn’t expecting such recognition.

“A bit of a shock… immense pride and it’s making me feel a bit humble as well,” he said.

Mr King first joined the CFA and his local fire brigade in 1992, and has taken on plenty of roles during his time.

With concerns the brigade may have had to fold, his brother Lance (who has been a Yallourn North member for 40 years) approached him and his mates about joining up, which initiated this phase of his life.

“At the time, Lance, my older brother, come up to the football club and basically said, ‘Unless we get more members, then the brigade will close’. It just didn’t have enough members to make it viable,” Mr King said.

“So, a heap of us from the football club went down and joined and that’s how it come about.”

The list of roles Mr King has taken on includes brigade captain, communications officer, sector commander, divisional commander, deputy operations officer, and health team leader. He is a current community liaison officer.

“I was pretty lucky there because right from the start we had to fill all those roles, so I put my hand up for one and liked it. Working shift work, I had plenty of time off so I had great opportunities. The CFA were really good in providing training and other opportunities… it helped my volunteer career certainly,” he added.

Mr King has also extended his expertise to fire investigation, predominately regarding structural investigation and wildfire investigation since 2004.

The King lineage continues with his daughter Hayley, who currently serves as captain of the Yallourn North Urban Fire Brigade and his son Ryan, who is also a member.

“That was a big day when the brigade voted Hayley in as captain… I felt very proud that day, that’s for sure,” Mr King said.

He has also led countless operations both state-wide and interstate as a strike team leader, dealing with some monumental natural disasters in each of his ventures.

“I went to New South Wales to Lismore with the floods (in 2022), that one really struck home about how it affected all the people there,” Mr King said.

“It’s a bit different from a bushfire, where a bushfire will come through and maybe destroy a house and they can rebuild, this just ruined everything (and) it was a matter of starting all over again.

“The resilience of those people, street barbecues and everything going like that in amongst what was happening… that one struck home a fair bit.”

Mr King’s other passion within the CFA concerns firefighter health, safety and wellbeing, as he played a pivotal part in introducing the south-east region’s first Health Monitoring and Rehabilitation Unit, which now boasts up to three in the area.

“It is a great asset, seeing a young lady at a fire, we couldn’t get an ambulance because (it was) a Code Black day where nothing was available, and she was highly stressed and then a couple of days later, my own son was heat stressed and we went out and picked him up – from that point, I thought there’s got to be a better way,” he said.

“Fortunately, one of the brigade members had started to do a bit of research into it and he’d given the information and I basically just ran with it.

“Our first kit, I got a grant and we got a kit in from America, one of the brigade members loaned us a trailer and we did a bit of a road show with that, showing other brigades, so interest sparks from other brigades as well, which is good.”

Many of these developments have significantly reduced heat-related incidents and hospital treatment claims among firefighters.

Mr King has also lent his hand to train new volunteer firefighters coming up through the ranks at a beginner level, equipping them with the essential qualifications including breathing apparatuses, tanker licenses and general firefighting skills.

“We want to make sure that they are trained right and they’re safe,” he said.

“But it is a good feeling to see people, even in our brigade, come up through the juniors into the seniors, and help train them (and) get them on the fire ground…. it’s a rewarding experience.”

He admitted to not being able to commit to that as much as of late, but with Mr King retiring from work at Latrobe City Council after 21 years, more time will free up for him to dive even further into his volunteering for the CFA across the board.

Mr King wished to first thank his local fire brigade in Yallourn North and the entire crew he’s worked with across the journey.

“If it wasn’t for those people that are past and present members, I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today,” he said.

He also issued his thanks to all of the staff he’s worked alongside across his time at District 9 (Warragul) and District 27 (Morwell) CFA Headquarters.