SA Country Fire Service Promotions Unit - History Section
Promoting the Historical foundations of the Service

Mount Barker Brigade - 1939 to Present

The Mount Barker Brigade was formed in late 1939 after a devastating bushfire in January 1939 swept the hills from Stirling to Strathalbyn destroying everything in it’s path. Soon after the start of World War 2 a public meeting was called by the chairman of the district council to discuss the need for a local fire brigade in the Mount Barker district to deal with emergencies. Before a Fire Brigade was formed in the Mount Barker district the council was equipped with 20 Knapsacks and leather faced beaters which would be handed out in an emergency. When it was decided a Fire Brigade was required a public appeal fund was then commenced with the council donating 50 Pounds.

The first purchase of the Brigade was a Villiers water cooled small stationary V belt drive motor and centrifugal pump, these were both mounted on an angle iron frame and was the first mechanised pump of the brigade. Soon after this was put into service it was rushed out to a Kitchen Fire at the Mount Barker Hospital and using a rainwater tank as a water source the crew did an admirable job in extinguishing the fire.

With more public support in 1942 a second hand 1934 Bedford 2 tonne truck was purchased from Freeman Motors for 90 pounds. This was fitted with a 300 Gallon steel tank and mounted with the pump on the tray top, this was believed to be the first mobile mechanical fire unit in the Adelaide hills. The Bedford fire truck was kept in a shed owned by Rex Coventry in Gawler street, when a fire alarm call came in a klaxon type siren which was mounted on Roy Gilberts house rang out the alert to the members. This klaxon remained in service until 1946 when a tower with a siren was erected at the new fire station.

The Bedford had done a lot of miles before the brigade purchased it and only had mechanical brakes which made it hazardous to drive it fully loaded with water in the hilly terrain. For a long time it was the only unit around and would travel many miles to towns such as Stirling, Strathalbyn, Meadows and Callington to extinguish fires. During the war the petrol rationing caused all trucks and many cars to be fitted with gas producers which were charcoal fired. This created havoc in the hills when a faulty gas producer dropped a few hots coals along country roads during the summer time. This caused a lot of fires and the value of the brigade to the community and consequent financial support enabled the brigade to purchase in 1944 one of the first new American lend lease Chevrolet Trucks available for civilian use.

This new truck came full equipped but was destroyed in action in 1948, it got replaced with another new truck which was built by Mr H. F. Gierke which was considered for many years to be the most modern bush fire appliance in South Australia. In the same year another small truck was purchased bringing Mt Barker’s strength to two supported also by a trailer pump on issue from the Civil Defence.

The first title of the brigade was Civil Defence Fire fighting Brigade until more councils got involved and formed units an association was formed called The Country Fire Brigades Association of S.A. This later became the Emergency Fire Service which then changed to its current title of S.A Country Fire Service. Mt Barker brigade had to rent to house the fire trucks until 1945 when the present fire station was built with voluntary labour. The station was officially opened by Mr T.J Meaney in 1946. In 1947 the brigade then purchased a base radio and three mobiles which had to be manually tuned when operating at a fire. Mt Barker brigade are still in the same station on Hack Street with many renovations and extensions done over the years to house the current fire appliances and personnel.

From as early as the 1960’s Mt Barker took on the role of Rescue in the district with a small manually operated rescue tool. Later with the kind donation of new Holmatro Rescue tools in 1985 by Amy Chapman in memory of her late husband Douglas Chapman and the purchase of a dedicated Ford F-350 rescue appliance it has seen the Mt Barker Brigade become well known in the Adelaide Hills for the Vehicle accidents and other rescues they attend on a regular basis. All the crews at Mt Barker have put in a lot of time and effort in the discovering more about the ever changing skill and tasks of rescue in the last 25 years since receiving an upgrade of various Holmatro Rescue Tools with the Brigade now operating the busiest rescue truck in the CFS.

This information has been sourced from the Brigade website at this address

Brigade Stations

1945 to Present - Hack Street, Mount Barker
Photographer, CFS Promotions Unit - Mar 2010
Google Map reference - Longitude 138.857726 Latitude -35.068886

Captains

Life Members