March Rural Fire Service captain John Kjoller is one of nine NSW recipients of the Australian Fire Service Medal to be included in Australia Day honours on Thursday.
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Mr Kjoller has been a Rural Fire Service volunteer fighting fires and attending road accidents for 50 years and since becoming captain of the March brigade 19 years ago has attended 130 fires and missed only four.
He has also been group captain of the Canobolas Zone since 2005.
He said he couldn’t believe he was nominated and accepted by a committee to receive the medal.
“I suppose when it’s all said and done I’m just a small orchardist and the [awards] are handed out to the more elite sort of people,” he said.
“It’s very prestigious I was certainly taken aback that someone would nominate me.”
Mr Kjoller first joined the Mullion Creek brigade when he was a teenager under the guidance of other family members.
“It was just the done thing, rural people join it to help out their neighbours if they have a fire and hopefully the neighbours help you if you’ve got a fire, that was just the done thing,” Mr Kjoller said.
He said since then the climate has changed with more hobby farms in the area and people working in town rather than staying on their properties during the day.
“People work now where as before if you were on the farm you could drop tools and go to the fire, now if you work in Orange you can’t drop tools and go,” Mr Kjoller said.
He said his best volunteers were now retirees but many would only be involved for five to 10 years.
A boundary change in 1994 saw him transfer to the March brigade, which covers the areas of March and Clergate.
“When I joined March it wasn’t because of any dissatisfaction, it was a boundary change,” Mr Kjoller said.
“I think it’s a very rewarding job, I certainly wouldn’t still be doing it if I didn’t get something out of it and the friendship and camaraderie makes it worth it,” he said.
He said because he is around most of the time and able to attend fires, combined with his decades of experience, it put him in a good position to be captain and as captain he had a responsibility to stay in the area so does not go on holidays or travel to fires outside the region.
He has attended three fires so far this year.
Tanya Marschke
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
