Plumpton Rural Fire Brigade serves the suburbs of Plumpton, Hebersham, Doonside, Quakers Hill, Marayong, Oakhurst, Glendenning, Dean Park, Mt Druitt, Whalan, Hassall Grove and the greater Blacktown City local government area.
The City of Blacktown is situated approximately 35 kilometres north west of Sydney covering over 246 square kilometres of which 40% (almost 99 square kilometres) is parks, reserves and bushland.
Plumpton Rural Fire Brigade, like many of the brigades in the Blacktown district, has a history extending back to the early 1940’s and possibly even further. During World War II (January 1942) many councils, community leaders and progress associations received official letters from the Prime Minister of Australia which read “Greetings, the State War Effort Coordination Committee acting on behalf of the Prime Minister request that a Bush Fire and Emergency Brigade be formed in your area immediately'', Blacktown Council also received a letter from the Bush Fire Advisory Committee drawing attention to the necessity of preventing bush fires during "blackouts" and requesting Shires eastward of the mountains to perfect the organisation of bush fire brigades. On a motion of Cr. Fyall and seconded by Cr. Francis it was resolved that council cooperate. These letters and the support of council are very likely the start of additional Volunteer Fire Brigades being formed in the Blacktown District. Other brigades were formed and the Blacktown Bushfire District was eventually formed.
The Plumpton Rural Fire Brigade of today started life as two brigades - Plumpton Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade and Mt Druitt Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade, with the “Mt Druitt Volunteer Bush Fire shed" located in Belmore Ave Whalan (in the parkland approximately opposite where Bulolo Drive is today). Today the parkland is known as RAAF Memorial Park. The brigade then became known as the District brigade stationed in Pringle Street (which is today’s location of the Mt Druitt SES unit). It has been reported the brigade was also located in two other locations (Richmond Road, Dean Park (just east of Bibos Bridge near the old United Dairies site and then the Cnr Richmond Road and Rooty Hill Road North)), before moving to the Florence Street Oakhurst location.
In 1980, the brigade became known as the Headquarters brigade with the amalgamation of Plumpton and Mount Druitt Volunteer Bush Fire Brigades, The "Headquarters Brigade" was located at the present location in Florence Street which was officially opened by the then Mayor of Blacktown City Council John Aquilina (now a member of NSW State Parliament) on Saturday 18th July 1981. The new station was designed by the Blacktown City Council Architect and constructed by Avant Constructions. It was a joint project by the then Bush Fire Council and Blacktown City Council with the total construction cost amounting to $65,000.00. The station housed a state of the art communications control centre and weather station, which was purchased with funds donated by staff of Playtex Pty Ltd.
In 1988 the “Headquarters brigade” again became known as Plumpton Rural Fire Brigade. Even though our Brigade has changed names and the Service has gone from the New South Wales Bushfire Brigades, to the New South Wales Bushfire Service, and now, to the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSWRFS). We still are as dedicated to providing a professional fire service to the local community as we were in our humble beginnings all those years ago.
Today, we not only fight grass and bush fires, as we are commonly associated with, but our primary role in the Blacktown Rural Fire district is protecting the community during urban type incidents, such as vehicle accidents, vehicles fires, structural fires and storm damage. We also assist with search and rescue missions and during natural disasters, such as storms and floods. We work extremely well with the other emergency services such as the New South Wales Fire Brigades, Ambulance Service, Police, NSW State Emergency Service in these incidents.
As a Brigade we are also involved in Community Education. We visit schools, child care centres, community organisations and scouts and girl guide groups. We also attend community events such as the Blacktown Show and Festival, and many other local community festivals speaking with children, parents and members of the community about fire safety around homes and while enjoying the great Australian outdoors.
The brigade attends approximately 350 to 400 emergency incidents per year.
We’d love it for people to have a look around the site. There is lots of information about Plumpton Rural Fire Brigade, including descriptions of our vehicles, meeting dates, brigade positions, upcoming events and photos.