Community
22 April, 2026
Young face joins CFA
THE son of Jancourt Country Fire Authority’s (CFA) captain has stepped up to the plate to join the brigade at just 16 years old, following in his father’s footsteps to make a difference for his community.
Seth Meade, son of Jarrod Meade, started the process of signing up to join the CFA when he turned 16 in December.
His dad, who has been with Jancourt CFA for three years now, said he joined during a time when the brigade was close to closing down due to a lack of members.
“A few of the regulars came back and a few new ones have revived it and saved it from being closed down,” Mr Meade said.
“It was to the point where if someone didn’t take it on and keep it going it was going to shut.
“We’ve got about 12 active members and 15 all up.”
Seth said when his dad ended up as captain he knew he would be joining him in the brigade when he reached the minimum age required to get involved.
“I thought, Dad enjoys it, and with volunteer work, if you don’t put your hand up, it doesn’t get done,” he said.
“The process to sign up for the CFA has recently changed, so the way I have to do it is different to how Dad had to do it three years ago.
“It’s more online so it’s easier to do.
“It’s a bit longer and a bit more stuff to do but it’s probably easier for the average person to get on and actually do it.
“It’s similar to getting your license, it’s tests on a computer, but it’s a lot of reading stuff and answering questions.”
Mr Meade said people could sign up on the CFA website and choose their local brigade to join, then the brigade would be notified and accept them as a nomination.
“Then they have to do a police check and a working with children’s check and when that comes back they do some online training and some theory and practical assessments,” he said.
Seth has recently finished his online theory work, with his practical assessment scheduled for next month.
“There’s about 18 hours of online theory that he does and about two good afternoons of learning the truck and learning how to be safe and how to do things,” Mr Meade said.
“Then there’s a two-day assessment next month.”
Seth said he was partly inspired to be a part of the CFA due to seeing the impacts of fires in his local community.
“If you’re a part of it you know what happens,” he said.
“There was fires in 2018, I would have been 10 or 11, I was in primary school and that was bad enough.
“I think if you have the time to do something you probably should.
“For small communities it’s how the community runs – maybe in a bigger community where you’ve got more people it can work even better.
“If you have the time you may as well.”
Mr Meade said Jancourt CFA was always on the lookout for more members to support other CFA brigades in the district.
“We struggle as a brigade to get the truck out between 9am and 5pm, generally because people go to work and work away from the district,” he said.
“Without volunteers, things like the CFA, local footy clubs, schools – they don’t function to their potential.
“My biggest thing was keeping this joint going.
“If you take Jancourt out, it’s a long way between Cobden and Simpson, to fill that gap.
“We’ve already lost Glenfyne on the other side of Cobden, so if you start taking these smaller brigades out it puts more pressure on the bigger ones.”
Mr Meade encouraged people of any age to get involved with their local CFA and said they didn’t have to go all out to volunteer.
“You can come into the CFA and do minimum, or you can really push it to the nth, like all the training, be able to respond to burning houses and go inside – go right up the food chain to be commanders and stuff,” he said.
“For some it’s just volunteering and for some it becomes a career – you can end up getting paid when you get to the top, not that I expect Seth to go that far.
“Let’s say for the foreseeable future, he’ll probably do this as a minimum, a first aid course, and maybe a chainsaw course, then once he’s finished his schooling he can go and do another course, respond to urban which means you can tackle a house fire from the inside, and then if he wants to go up higher he can or he can go off and do something else.
“A junior member at 16 needs their parent’s permission to join, but once you’re 18 you can join as an adult.
“Some brigades have junior members that start at 12 but we don’t have the numbers to have junior members, so 16 is the starting age.”