Tara Allan named Millthorpe Rural Fire Brigade captain
Published Date: 19 Dec 2019
Summary
It's one of the biggest fire seasons in NSW that anyone can remember, and for the first female captain of the Millthorpe Rural Fire Service, it will certainly be a memorable one.
View the Blayney Chronicle story
Tara Allan is relatively new to the village and has more than enough fire fighting experience to guide the rest of the members as they go about their volunteer work.
Tara Allan with former captain Warwick Sharples.
In 2010 Mrs Allan joined the Blaxland Rural Fire Brigade with her father Mark Campbell, and as soon as they moved down the mountain to Orchard Hills a few years later, they joined that local RFB as well.
For the past 18 months Mrs Allan has been happily living in Millthorpe and has taken on the role of captain, replacing Warwick Sharples who has stepped back from the role to enjoy some time being a grey nomad.
The fires that are currently tearing through the Blue Mountains reminds Mrs Allan of the first major fire that she fought with her father.
"It was the Winmalee fire in 2013 which was the biggest fire in the history of the Blue Mountains at that time," she said.
Following on from that fire she also travelled to Coonabarabran in 2013 to fight a major fire in the Warrumbungle National Park.
As the captain of Millthorpe brigade though, Mrs Allan finds herself attending far more of one type of call out than bush or grass fires.
"The majority of the calls are for motor vehicles or car crashes and we work with the Blayney Fire Brigade a lot of the time," she said.
Although the brigade has 20 members, during the week the available numbers dwindle due to work commitments in Bathurst or Orange.
"We often only have two or three available during the day," she said.
