Farmer News
1 July, 2026
Women of Lyons lead the way
THREE women are now at the helm of the Lyons Fire Brigade, leading a small community in the far southwest of Victoria and paving the way for generations to come.
Newly elected captain Melissa Free, who has been with CFA for 18 years, is following in the footsteps of her husband, Percy, who has stepped down after seven years in the role.
“It is a privilege to be the captain, and I hope to do as good of a job as Percy did,” Melissa said.
“I just want to give the community more awareness that we are here, and to make sure we’re out and about so everyone can see what is going on and that we’re here to help them.
“It is critical we build a good relationship with the community we’ve got.”
Melissa believes women in leadership roles within the CFA are really important, and she is currently a member of the Women’s Advisory Committee.
Before making the treechange to Lyons, Melissa first started at Chocolyn Fire Brigade, after her grandfather and father moved from Warneet.
During this time, she moved through the ranks from training officer, to Lieutenant and inevitably, captain.
Outside of Lyons she is also the captain of the District 4 headquarters brigade and a CFA community engagement coordinator.
“I love looking after our community and helping keep people safe,” Melissa said.
“I’ve made so many friendships over the years that I never would have met before and the training we get is amazing.
“We’re a very small brigade, with 12 members, including nine who are active, but when that siren goes off, we’re out the door very quickly.”
For 1st Lieutenant and six-year member Sarah Bolte, who has grown up in the area, it is the community connection and network hub that comes with it that she enjoys most.
“There was a need for more members, and they wanted to get some younger members to come in and get the brigade going again - it has been great to help out our community.” Sarah said.
“While we all knew each other in a roundabout way, we’ve built a stronger connection since being part of the brigade.
“As a part time farmer and bank worker in town, being within the agricultural sector, it doesn’t really matter to me if we’re male or female, we just get the job done and we all chip in. But it is nice to have a female’s perspective on things.”
Since leaving veterinary services five years ago, 2nd Lieutenant Amanda Macdonald said CFA had become a higher priority for her now that she is able to give more time to it as a full-time farmer.
“I used to do a lot of on call work and late nights, and since I’ve stopped that I’ve had a bit of an opening in my life,” Amanda said.
“The brigade was struggling with numbers, and I wanted to help keep the brigade operating and the truck getting to fires, so I joined up.
“I think it’s a great tradition to be part of CFA as an Australian farmer. The skills and knowledge we have are valuable, and it goes both ways.
“We’ve built skills through what CFA has helped give us, and the skills that we offer to CFA are really important to a healthy rural community.”
Driving trucks and vehicles off road has been a big part of Amanda’s life as a farmer and a vet, as well as working pumps and understanding fire behaviour.
“But it has been really helpful from a farming perspective to get a deeper understanding of how firefighting works,” she said.
As Sarah and Amanda are busy on the farm during summer and remain in town, they are able to respond to local call outs when needed.
Melissa, who has completed her strike team leader course and is undergoing endorsement, usually deploys across the state where needed during fire season.
“I always doubted myself and that course was the one thing I didn’t think I’d ever get through, but I’ve done the training and I’m really excited about it,” Melissa said.