by John Horne

Before 1927 Blacktown did not have a local fire brigade and landowners had to defend their own properties from fires . Everyone in the vicinity of a fire would lend a hand to fight the blaze . State-wide coordinated firefighting was non-existent back then .

Probably the earliest fire reported in the Blacktown City area occurred in January 1804 on a farm at Prospect . The barn caught fire and was speedily consumed ( Sydney Gazette and NSW Advertiser , 8 January 1804 , page 4 ). Of course , before the Europeans arrived the Dharug had been using fire as an important tool to create a fertile grassy bushland for their huntergatherer agriculture . Pemulwuy , a Dharug warrior , who fought against the invaders in his country , used fire to burn crops and kill livestock in places like Parramatta , Toongabbie and Prospect .

In more modern times , in August 1895 in the Quakers Hill area , Chinese market gardeners with their very large watering cans came to the aid of other locals who were trying to save Pearce ’ s , Pye ’ s and Oaks ’ burning fences when a bushfire swept across their grassy paddocks . Fires were burning alongside Blacktown Road at the same time , these had started after a long period of very dry weather , which is what still happens today .

In December the same year , the Windsor and Richmond Gazette reported on a scenario that might have been on our television news : “ After a succession of three of the hottest days this season , a few welcome showers have fallen and freshened things up considerably . On Sunday , Monday and

Tuesday with the thermometer over 90 degrees in the shade ( 33 ° Celsius ), a dry hot wind blowing , bushfires raging and very little water in the tanks , matters looked rather serious , and everything and everybody had a more or less depressed and wilted appearance on Tuesday afternoon …. a few showers and Blacktown began to live again .”

In 1895 most people in the Shire of Blacktown lived on farms and did not have ‘ town water .’ They relied upon their own tank water , wells sunk into the ground and local creeks and dams . A bushfire made everyone ’ s lives perilous and put their properties in grave danger .

In 1908 the Blacktown Shire Council decided to use funds in its general account to begin the process of setting up a local fire brigade . Before this , people in the townships of Blacktown Shire called upon the Parramatta Fire Brigade , by means of a telegraph message or with someone riding the whole distance to Parramatta to get help .

Even after the establishment of a Blacktown-based volunteer fire brigade unit in 1927 , people still had to rely upon their own efforts to save their own lives and property . It wasn ’ t possible for one or even two fire brigade units to be able to protect the enormous area that made up the Blacktown Shire ; at that time it stretched from Westmead all the way westwards to St Marys . There was one other volunteer fire brigade unit in Wentworthville when the Blacktown Fire Brigade began .

“ In 1936 it was not the official fire brigade that came to the rescue when a bushfire threatened several cottages in Doonside . Disaster was averted by

the prompt action of three women who were on the scene , Mrs Johnson and her daughter Joan , and Mrs Burke .“ ( Doonside A little History of nearly Everything , page 60 ).

When part of the wooden railway platform at Quakers Hill was destroyed by a bushfire in January 1939 , Mrs Wheeler , who was the stationmaster , fought the blaze by herself and saved the remainder of the station buildings even though she was severely burned on her face .

Like the Rural Fire Service Brigades today , the first Blacktown Fire Brigade was a volunteer unit . To begin with , it had 10 personnel with no fire engine and no fire station . This all changed on Saturday 29 January 1927 when its first fire engine arrived , towed all the way from the NSW Fire Board ’ s headquarters in Sydney behind a motor truck .

It was stored in Jim Simpson ’ s backyard behind Kildare House . Today this site is covered by the Catholic University and Council Building in Main Street opposite Blacktown Railway Station . Jim Simpson was the Brigade Captain and a local real estate agent . Later Council constructed a shed to

Doonside Bushfire Brigade ’ s ex-army Blitz truck that was used from 1950s to 1969 . Photo courtesy Jim Colbran .

house the fire apparatus on its property in Campbell Street , Blacktown . Whenever the brigade was called out to a fire , they hired a local owner ’ s truck to tow the engine to the fire . They paid him an annual fee of £ 12 / 10 / - . Fortnightly fire-fighting drills were held on a nearby paddock behind the Robin Hood Hotel site which at that time was the Royal Hotel . There was an old underground well there from which water could be pumped .

World War Two ( 1939-1945 ) was a catalyst for the formation of locally based fire-fighting units . Local Volunteer Bushfire Brigades grew out of this need for coordinated civil defence in wartime . A Chief Warden over the Shire of Blacktown was appointed in 1939 as part of the Australian National Emergency Services . When did Blacktown City ’ s Local Volunteer

Bushfire-Brigades commence ? - Blacktown Fire Brigade 1927 - Doonside 1949 - Eastern Creek ( formerly Rooty Hill ) 1940s - Marsden Park 1942 - Mt Druitt ( amalgamated with Blacktown

Bushfire Brigade ) 1970s - Plumpton ( formerly Marayong / Quakers Hill )

1980 - Riverstone 1940 - Rooty Hill 1940s - Schofields 1944 - Shanes Park Fire Station opened in 1997 - Vineyard 1941 Today when parts of Blacktown City are threatened by bushfires , it has seven NSW Fire and Rescue Fire Stations at various addresses across Blacktown City including Huntingwood , Kellyville , Mt Druitt , Riverstone , Schofields , Seven Hills and Woodcroft .

There are also several Volunteer Rural Fire Brigades at Eastern Creek , Marsden Park , Plumpton , Schofields and Shanes Park . Today our city is protected from bush fires and other fires by a coordinated fire service that can call on resources from Blacktown City itself , other parts of New South Wales and elsewhere .

Smoke from bushfires blow over Doonside in 2016 .