Katanning VFRS captain Trevor Watson ready to pass the torch after more than three decades at the helm

After more than three decades as the captain of Katanning Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service, Trevor Watson will leave the role with the sights and sounds of one of his town’s biggest bushfire emergencies fresh in his memory. Mr Watson, 56, said he had never seen anything like the bushfire that forced the evacuation of Katanning on February 8 — and he hoped his crew would never see anything like it again. Reflecting on his time at the helm of Katanning VFRS last week, Mr Watson said the moment when that fire hit the western edge of town was the most unnerving of his career. “I was thinking 30 years I’ve been doing this and I’m about to watch it all burn,” he said. “You can only do what you can do and save what you can save and it was hard to even see where it was. You were in the smoke, it was hard to see what was on fire and it was over the road and into the houses.” As the dust settled after the February bushfire emergency, it became clear the volunteers, water bomber pilots and Department of Fire and Emergency Services co-ordinators had done a herculean job. Only one home had been lost. A DFES assessment estimated firefighters had saved more than 200 buildings, including 43 homes. Unlike the vast majority of call-outs, the Katanning crew did not feel they had control of a situation of such magnitude. “We have plenty of different challenges — we had the boy in the chimney not too long ago which was a different challenge, but it was a challenge where we had control of the scene,” he said. “When you don’t have any control, it makes it a totally different thing for us. We were all out doing what we could do and you have to hope for the best and hope for a bit of luck at the end of the day.” Mr Watson, a mechanic by trade and maintenance supervisor with CBH, joined Katanning VFRS in 1983. He will officially hand over the captaincy to his first lieutenant Chris Brooks on July 1. He said he would stay in the brigade after he steps down as captain, but he had full confidence in the next generation of leaders. The brigade was always looking for new members, whether they stayed for one year or 30, he said. As a fire and rescue service, the team did more than put out fires. It was inevitable that a long-term volunteer would have to attend a crash where they had some connection to a victim. “Over time, the reality is you’re going to have people you know involved in the things you have to go and deal with, which is probably a bit more of a stress on the guys,” he said. “But the organisation’s gone a long way towards looking after volunteers better mental-health wise.” Mr Brooks, who at 31 is already a life member of 15 years, said he would do his best to follow the example Mr Watson had set. “He’s a role model without even knowing it,” Mr Brooks said. “The way he does things is just amazing. If you see him walk through the door you chill out because you know everything’s going to be fine.”