Trafalgar CFA members Mark Walshe, Glenn Goodin, and Marcus Barker, along with ex-member Matthew Bailey, spent a week volunteering as fire marshals at the Bathurst 1000 held in the first week of October.
For Mark and Glenn, it was their third year, and both Marcus and Matthew were first-year rookies.
As recognition of being volunteers we were each given four day passes and a powered camp site.
We parked our wagons in a circle and had a fire pit in the middle!
We spent the first couple of days resting after the drive up but also walking around the entire 6.4 kilometre track circuit, which was amazing, as seeing it on TV doesn’t really give you a sense of how steep and tight it is.
Then, on Wednesday, we met up with the rest of the volunteer fire marshals who were from all over Australia and three even flew out from New Zealand, numbering around 50 people.
Once acquainted, we set about loading each of the six fire vehicles with a large foam bomb and six fire extinguishers, along with other equipment.
These vehicles are stationed around the track and are sent out onto the track as required.
As fire marshals we were spread out along the pit lane in readiness for any fires that may break out on either the race cars or the garages.
We looked after two garages each, but in actual fact, you could just say that we babysat fire extinguishers for four days!
We woke each morning at 4:45am and signed on, picked up our breakfast and lunch packs before meeting at the fire shed for a briefing.
We worked one hour on and one hour off through the day until 6pm.
They were long days, and we had very sore feet by the end of the day, soothed only by a couple of cold beers.
We had the very best positions on the whole circuit, being able to witness what was happening in the pit garages and rubbing shoulders with the drivers.
Around 470 people volunteer for trackside roles like flag marshals, fire marshals, medical, recovery, communications, and track safety.
The event relies on these volunteers to be able to put on such a wonderful event.
