Fighting the flames
Firefighter recognised for years of sacrifice
FOR three decades, Kenneth “Mark” Eglington has been on the frontline of the country’s fire disasters.
He has visited every state in Australia, bearing witness to the destructive nature of bushfires and the power of the human spirit to join together in times of crisis.
He has put his life on the line and been responsible for the lives of his crew while they fight to save not only their own backyards but strangers’ livelihoods as well.
Known to his crew mates as “Min”, Mr Eglington was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list when he received the Australian Fire Service Medal.
The now group captain joined a very different Cudgen Rural Fire Brigade to the one that exists today.
Firefighting tankers were kept at whichever farm had a spare shed across Duranbah and Cudgen. That was until 2001 when Mr Eglington donated a piece of his family’s farmland to give the Cudgen brigade a permanent home.
He followed this with another donation in 2006 for extensions.
Across the years, the local rural volunteer firefighters’ membership has gone up and down, but one thing has been constant – Mr Eglington’s wife Judy has been by his side, 29 years in the fire service herself.
“I think she got to the stage where ‘if you can’t beat them you gotta join them’,” Mr Eglington said with a laugh.
The father-of-three rose through the ranks of the
NSW Rural Fire Service to deputy captain, senior deputy captain, captain and group captain in 2006. He has also been a permit officer for 26 years.
As if attending call-outs, training, maintenance checks and community fundraising events were not enough, Mr Eglington was described by crewmates as dedicated to ensuring all members upgraded their skills and qualifications and had been involved in instructing and mentoring at training courses in the district.
The 63-year-old retired cane-turned-sweet-potato farmer was born and bred in the Tweed and “won’t be leaving” any time soon.
“It’s a huge honour to get the award but I don’t do the job for that,” he said.
“I love it. I love helping the community. It’s just been in me all my life.
“Through the fire service I have made such long-lasting friendships and mateships. There are a lot of great people out there.
“Every firefighter does what we do because we love it and help the community.”
Reflecting on 30 years of battling blazes, Mr Eglington said nothing compared to the ferocity of the bushfires that raged this year and late last year.
“There have been bad ones in the past, but this …” he said, his voice trailing off.
“When you see it on TV you only see a building burnt down but being there on the ground, when you got into town, it wasn’t just one building, it was street after street, farm after farm. It was definitely a hard experience.”
His experience inspired him to become the driving force behind forming the Far North Coast Cobargo fundraising committee that oversaw the purchases and transit of $50,000 worth of materials to the Cobargo community after the devastating bushfires.
“I think one of the most touching moments of my career was when I returned from the Cobargo fires and my 11-year-old granddaughter did a drawing for me, saying she wanted to be a firefighter just like me.
“She even organised her local Cudgen State School to all write letters to our firefighters. It’s the little things that really make a difference.”
In 2005, Mr Eglington was awarded the Paul Harris Fellow by Kingscliff Rotary.
In 2007, he received a National Medal for his diligent service and in 2015 was a finalist for the Rotary NSW Emergency Service Community Award for NSW RFS Officer of the Year.