ONE OF OUR REAL TREASURES!

In fact, Steve Ritchie is actually our Treasurer!          

Steve was born in Melbourne and grew up in Reservoir, where he was heavily involved in swimming. He also played A grade Water Polo and was a member of the Point Lonsdale Surf Life Saving Club.

In 1976, he joined ICI in their research laboratories and progressed through many different roles over 28 years with ICI/Orica, including Bulk Liquids Logistics Manager, where he was involved in the shipping, storage and local distribution of many imported chemicals both hazardous and non hazardous. This has given him an excellent background in chemical handling and safety procedures, which has been useful knowledge when training and at incidents with the CFA.

He is currently employed as a Business Development Manager for Direct Logistics, working with ‘iso tanks’ and associated logistics services. Iso tanks are large stainless steel tanks that are used to store or transport  bulk liquids domestically and overseas. Products carried vary from hazardous chemicals to food grade products like wine or milk.

Steve has been married to Sandra for 28 years. She is a Primary School Principal in Kyneton. They have 3 children, all of whom are either at University or working. They lived in Eltham for 7 years until it became just another suburb and much open land became subdivided. Wanting more space and the relaxed country atmosphere they moved to Woodend 19 years ago, but still don’t regard themselves as locals! Things have changed very much since they first arrived here.

Steve became a CFA volunteer 13 years ago, and in his early days it was said that he was married to the Fire Brigade and should take his bed down to the station. He joined because he was commuting to Melbourne to work and found that he was not really getting to know many people within the community. He thought this would be an opportunity to get to meet and relate to the locals and understand more about the area … and also contribute something to the community.

He has sincerely enjoyed his time with the Woodend Fire Brigade and the knowledge gained has been invaluable. He was mentored by Laurie Thomason, the then Captain, and to this day he is most grateful for the support and knowledge that Laurie gave him. The camaraderie and friendship of members both past and present have always been a strong positive. The training and opportunities to assist in the local community as well as head off elsewhere in the state or even interstate to assist in times of need have given him a sense of achievement and enjoyment over the years.

Over the years Steve has served as a Firefighter, Crew Leader, Driver, Secretary and Treasurer.

His most memorable moments? One occurred not too long after joining the Brigade. The siren went, he rolled up to the station and was thrown on the back of the Tanker to a structure fire in High St - the fish and chip shop had gone up. This was his first turn out and when they arrived on scene the structure was ‘fully involved’. This was an exciting and very scary experience. The adjoining properties were saved, but the fish and chip shop was lost.

Another memorable moment was spending New Years Eve 2002 protecting properties at Colo Heights in NSW. Our crew was positioned in the driveway of a house awaiting the fire to come out of the gully. Fortunately the wind dropped and the fire did not come out of the gully as anticipated. 

In his spare time Steve is interested in leadlighting, home renovations, gardening and travelling.

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