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9 October, 2025
‘It can feel like forever’: truck wait frustrates Charlton CFA members
“Sometimes you can wait five minutes, maybe even more,” Ms Bedford said. “When you’re literally just standing there, waiting and waiting, it’s excruciating. “It can feel like forever.”
ELLA Bedford has always had to wait for the Charlton fire truck to make it to station.
She’s never known any different.
And that wait can feel like an eternity.
“Sometimes you can wait five minutes, maybe even more,” Ms Bedford said.
“When you’re literally just standing there, waiting and waiting, it’s excruciating.
“It can feel like forever.”
Ms Bedford joined the Charlton Fire Brigade in 2023 when she wanted to help her new community.
“I really enjoy it, but this is frustrating,” she said.
The Charlton CFA welcomed a new 2020 Iveco Eurocargo Tanker, replacing the 34-year-old Isuzu Tanker in 2021.
But that came with one problem - it wouldn’t fit in the station.
Now, when the brigade members get called out to a fire, they meet at the station and have to wait for someone to go and collect the truck from a shed behind Walsh Motors.
And while it may seem like a small distance, Ms Bedford said that time is critical.
“It would be so much easier if it was all just there,” Ella said last week.
“There’s a lot of older members who, while they had a smaller truck, it was always here at the station. They always talk about how frustrated they are, it’s sad that it has to come to this.”
Ms Bedford said she has been to two major fires in her time and she hopes none are affected by this wait time.
She did say there were plenty of positives to being in the brigade, with this frustration on deterring her from staying.
“You just get such a rush when you put out a fire,” she said.
“There’s such an adrenalin rush and a sense of achievement.
“We have such a supportive team and you always feel like you can celebrate together, knowing you put that fire out together.”
Ms Bedford said while they were luckier than some brigades to have a decent amount of young members in their ranks, they would never say no to more.
“We have to be able to take over this team one day, we will always need fire fighters,” she said.
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