By Brendan Rees
Ken Blencowe has spent the majority of his life serving his community, as a member of the Clyde fire brigade.
He has been a volunteer with CFA for 48 years but just a few weeks ago the 63-year-old decided to hang up his boots as captain of the brigade.
“I’ve been in charge of the brigade for a long time,” he said.
“I had a couple of issues lately and I decided enough is enough. I wasn’t going to try and do 20 years.”
Ken joined the Clyde brigade at the age of 16 years old and worked his way up the ranks.
But he has no plans on slowing down though and will continue to be an active member with the Clyde brigade.
As captain, Ken says he made a lot of sacrifices: “I was there every Sunday morning, I was there every Monday night, and I would go around to different meetings and then also turnouts.”
“In the last month since I’ve stepped down I’ve probably seen my kids more than I have in the past,” Ken says.
When asked what he loves most about being a member of CFA, Ken says “helping people.”
“You get to meet a lot of different firefighters from all walks of life and all over the state,” he added.
With nearly 50 years of experiences under his belt Ken said he has had too many great CFA memories to pick just one.
“There are plenty of incidents that happen that you never forgot,” he said.
“It’s a big commitment trying to organise crews and relieve crews. As a captain I didn’t really go away as much as I used to,” he said.
Firefighting is also family affair for Ken with two of his three children currently serving with the brigade.
“My dad was in the brigade and my grand-daughter is also in the brigade.”
“I’m just a happy bloke that enjoys what I do,” he says.
Clyde CFA member Andrew Milligan took over the role as captain of the brigade on 1 July.
