St Helens Fire Brigade - Tasmania

03/06/2026

🚒👏 Huge congratulations to our newest brigade members! 👏🚒

This last weekend our recruits took on their Pumps Course, and we're proud to say they all passed with flying colours! 🎉💦

Learning how to operate and manage fire pumps is a vital skill for any firefighter, and this is another important milestone on their journey towards becoming Level 1 qualified firefighters. 🔥🚒

We're incredibly proud of the commitment, enthusiasm and hard work each of them has shown so far. 💪

It's exciting to watch our newest members grow in confidence, develop new skills and become valued members of the St Helens Brigade family. ❤️

Well done everyone – you've taken another big step forward, and we can't wait to see what you achieve next! 👨‍🚒👩‍🚒✨

📸 : Quinton Murdoch

🚒🔥👏

22/05/2026

❤️🧑‍🚒 National Volunteer Week 🧑‍🚒❤️

A huge shout out to all of our incredible volunteers and their families during National Volunteer Week.

Today members from St Helens joined crews from across the north-east to support a planned fuel reduction burn at Ansons Bay alongside the Tasmania Fire Service Bushfire Risk Unit. 🔥🌿

Behind every volunteer is a family making sacrifices too — missed dinners, interrupted plans, late nights and early mornings. We thank not only our brigade members, but also the partners, children, families and employers who support what we do every single day. 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦❤️

Special thanks to our hardworking members who represented St Helens today:
👏 Dan & Dani — one of the many husband and wife firefighting duos within our brigade
👏 Mark
👏 Dave
👏 And new member Mike — great to have you on the truck!

Whether it’s turning out to emergencies, attending training every Tuesday night, helping with community events, or supporting fuel reduction burns like this one, our volunteers continue to make a real difference in keeping our community safe. 🚒

Thank you to every volunteer past and present for your dedication, commitment and community spirit. We couldn’t do it without you. ❤️

During National Volunteer Week. Tasmania Fire Service would like to recognise and thank our volunteers for their availability and commitment to community safety.

Today volunteers from brigades at Musselroe Bay, Tomahawk, Branxholm, Ringarooma, St Helens, Dilston and Ravenswood supported the Bushfire Risk Unit to conduct a planned fuel reduction burn at Ansons Bay.

Our dedicated volunteers play a valuable role in assisting to protect lives. Together they make a difference supporting and connecting our communities and helping to keep them and our environment safe.

If you're not one of our volunteers but you would like to be - visit our website for details - fire.tas.gov.au/volunteering

This burn is part of the state-wide Fuel Reduction Program which is aimed at reducing the bushfire risk to help protect lives and communities. A map of planned fuel reduction burns is available at - www.fire.tas.gov.au/Show?pageId=colWhatsBurningNow

22/04/2026

🔥 St Helens Volunteer Fire Brigade Update 🔥

It’s been a little while since our last post, but we’ve certainly been keeping busy behind the scenes!

We’re excited to welcome 6 new members to the brigade 👩‍🚒👨‍🚒 – it’s been great getting them involved, showing them the ropes and building their skills from the ground up.

Last weekend, 7 of our members headed to Launceston to complete their Working at Heights certification 🧗‍♂️ – a fantastic effort and valuable training for our crew!

Tuesday night training was a real mixed bag this week:
🚑 Some members took part in a familiarisation session with Tas Ambulance volunteers (big thanks to the Johns for bringing the unit around!)

🔥 Meanwhile, our new recruits got their first taste of live fire training in a safe, controlled environment – a big milestone!

📟 The pager is still keeping us on our toes, although thankfully 9 times out of 10 it’s false alarms, smoke investigations or calls for assistance.

🏠 As the cooler weather rolls in, now’s a great time to:
🔋 Check and change your smoke alarm batteries
🔥 If you’re planning a burn-off, please register it with Tasmanian Fire Service – permits may not be required, but it helps prevent unnecessary callouts for our crews

Stay safe everyone, and thanks for your continued support of our brigade ❤️🚒

📸- Ailsa Hindrum
📸- Dylan Coker-Williams
📸- Mark Hinsley
📸- Aaron Webb

18/02/2026

🔥 St Helens Volunteer Fire Brigade 🔥

Today we had the pleasure of welcoming Premier Jeremy Rockliff, Mark Shelton MP Felix Ellis MP and Break O'Day Mayor Mick Tucker to our station here in St Helens.

On short notice, we were incredibly proud to have 10+ members and their families attend the station to meet and greet our visitors and show them around our little brigade home. 🚒

We had some great conversations around volunteering in rural communities, the importance of family support behind our members, and the growing needs of rural brigades like ours. 👨‍🚒👩‍🚒

Over the past few months, we have been fortunate to welcome many new faces through our doors, bringing our brigade family to just over 30 members. 🙌 While this growth is something we are extremely proud of, it does highlight one of our biggest challenges — with truck capacity currently allowing for 10 firefighters at a time, it’s something our brigade is feeling the pressure of.

Our brigade family may have grown significantly this past summer, and we couldn’t be prouder of every single person who has stepped up to serve our community. ❤️ We can’t wait to share their journeys with you all as they train, grow and become part of our operational crews.

Thank you again to our visitors for taking the time to come and see firsthand the dedication of our members and the needs of rural volunteer brigades.

🚒🔥

26/01/2026

We are incredibly honoured to have been awarded the Outstanding Service to Our Community Award at the Break O’Day Australia Day Awards 🇦🇺🏆

We would like to sincerely thank Break O'Day Council for this recognition and, most importantly, every single one of our volunteers who stepped up, put their hands up, and stood shoulder to shoulder to support our community when it mattered most 💪🔥

We also acknowledge that many brigades across the Break O’Day municipality were awarded this same honour. As a brigade, we are truly grateful to work alongside so many dedicated, selfless, and downright amazing human beings 🚒🤝

A huge thank you as well to those who travelled from outside our municipality to assist with the initial response, and to everyone who helped with the long days of mop-up operations. Without committed volunteers, the Tasmanian Fire Service would look very different — and without the incredible support of our community, our brigade would too ❤️

This experience has taught us many lessons.
We’ve learned where we can improve, grown stronger together, and have been absolutely blown away by the local support, including new volunteers joining our brigade — so watch this space for some new friendly faces! 👋🚒

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you 💛 ❤️ 💙

🚒🔥

15/01/2026

Between 19-21 January, Poli, our community engagement van, will be taking a road trip up the east coast, stopping to chat to locals at various locations including Orford, Bicheno, and St Helens.

If you see us, come say hi, grab some resources, and chat with our officers about how we can support your community.

Poli helps us bring police services and support directly to the community.

👮 With Poli, we’re:
✅ Building trust through direct engagement
✅ Supporting vulnerable and rural communities
✅ Sharing advice on crime prevention, child safety, and more.

08/01/2026

Tasmania Fire Service has suspended the issuing of fire permits statewide as we prepare for high fire danger across the state this weekend.

From 2am today (Friday, 9 January) until 2am Monday 12 January:

‼️ No fire permits will be issued for burns during the period.
❌ Any fire permits already issued for fires during this period are cancelled as conditions will be unsafe for burning.
🔥 If you have burned in the last week, check your fire is fully extinguished.
🔥 Burns under 1 cubic metre which do not require a permit are strongly discouraged.
🔥 Anyone having a campfire and/or wood fire barbecue is urged to never leave it unattended.
‼️ Anyone operating equipment is urged to be vigilant to avoid any activity that may cause accidental ignition of vegetation during this suspension.

📲🚒 If you need emergency assistance, or you see fire or smoke in the landscape, call Triple Zero (000) immediately.

ℹ️ To check the Fire Danger Rating in your area, visit https://www.fire.tas.gov.au/fire-danger-rating/summary/
ℹ️ For bushfire warnings and alerts, visit TasAlert.com

24/12/2025

🎄🚒 Merry Christmas from the St Helens Volunteer Fire Brigade! 🚒🎄

Wishing everyone in our amazing community a very Merry Christmas and a safe, happy New Year 🎅✨

Thank you for your support throughout the year – it truly means the world to our volunteers ❤️

As you celebrate with family, friends, food and fun, please stay safe and look out for one another 🎆🔥

And as the clock strikes 12am on New Year’s Day ⏰🎉 — let’s keep the celebrations bright without the flares 🚫🔥
We’re hoping to be celebrating with you, not responding to a flare-related callout 😉🙏

From all of us at the brigade – take care, enjoy the festive season and we’ll see you in the New Year 🎉🎄






🚒❤️

13/12/2025

‼️High Fire Danger Ratings are forecast across much of Tasmania today.

🧑‍🚒We are urging all community members to be prepared, and to take steps now to reduce your bushfire risk.

💦 Make sure any fires lit in recent days or weeks, including fire pits and other outdoor fires, are fully extinguished. Soak it. Stir it. Soak it again.

🚫 Do not light any fires.

🚒 TFS is prepared, but you have a role to play in keeping yourself and your neighbours safe.

🏡 Check your bushfire plan and prepare your property.

🔥 If you do see any signs of fire re-igniting such as smoke and flames, call Triple Zero (000).

📲 Keep up to date with warnings and information on the TasALERT app or at TasALERT.com, or by listening to ABC Local Radio.

For more information on how to prepare for bushfires, visit https://bushfire.tas.gov.au/

13/12/2025

🔥 Behind the Scenes at St Helens Volunteer Fire Brigade 🚒

When we’re not actively on the fire ground, our work doesn’t stop.

Today, our volunteers were at the station cleaning, maintaining and restocking our trucks and equipment 🧽🔧🧯 to ensure we’re ready to respond immediately if we get the page 📟.

We were also joined by the TAS SES - St Helens Unit, who were on hand doing the same — cleaning and checking their vehicles and gear 🚙🔦. Strong partnerships like this help keep our emergency services prepared and our community safe 🤝💙.
These tasks often go unseen, but they are a critical part of staying operational and response-ready 💪🚒.

We encourage everyone to:
👀 Keep an eye on TasAlerts for incidents and warnings in your area
👉 https://www.tasalerts.com
⚠️ Remain vigilant, and
🔥 Take care when lighting any type of fire, especially under current conditions.

Thank you to all our volunteers — Fire and SES — who continue to show up for the community, both on the front line and behind the scenes 👏❤️

🔥🚒