General News
31 May, 2022
Port CFA welcomes new captain
PORT Campbell Country Fire Authority (CFA) brigade captain Katy Millard certainly had a reason to celebrate her dedication to volunteerism recently.
PORT Campbell Country Fire Authority (CFA) brigade captain Katy Millard certainly had a reason to celebrate her dedication to volunteerism recently.
She was not only the first woman captain of her brigade, but also the first woman captain in the whole district.
Ms Millard was a police officer for Victoria Police for 15 years until she moved to Port Campbell where she decided to live on a dairy farm.
She is a mother of three and also volunteers with Life Saving Victoria.
Ms Millard said she enjoys volunteering as it gives her the opportunity to use her life skills.
“The experience I’ve learnt from volunteering benefits my community and it also challenges me and gives me the chance to develop new skills,” she said.
Ms Millard said she also enjoyed being a first responder for incidents in her community.
“It gives me the same feeling I had when I was a police officer, as I’m tackling similar issues and continuing to help people,” she said.
During COVID lockdowns, Ms Millard said she wanted to be more involved in the community and the brigade to help with people’s mental health.
“It was great to be able to be there for my community and assist those in need,” she said.
Ms Millard first joined CFA in 2016 when she was a stay-at-home mum and a cycling buddy suggested she join.
Since then she has worked hard to climb the brigade ranks to become captain.
Ms Millard also attended the Building Confident Leaders Program, which is a designed leadership program specifically aimed at emerging female leaders for women in District 6, where she learnt to deal with her lack of confidence.
She said there were three female members at Port Campbell out of a total of 25 members and she would like to encourage more women to volunteer.
“It would be great to see a bigger female presence in the brigade,” Ms Millard said.
“We’re a close-knit community and very welcoming to anyone who would like to join.
“There’s a role for everyone – you don’t have to be on the back of a fire truck to be a CFA volunteer.”
This year’s theme for National Volunteer Week was ‘Better Together’ which holds true to CFA.
CFA is one of the world’s largest volunteer emergency services with 54,000 volunteers and more than 1200 brigades across Victoria.
Find out more about volunteering with CFA at https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/volunteer-careers/volunteers.