Breanne Geyle, Firefighter from Metropolitan Fire Brigade

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Resident of Yarraville

I must have lost years off my life being woken up by the fire station alarm in the middle of the night. You get up and you feel your heart beating inside of you, and you have to be out of the station in less than 70 seconds ideally!

My first job out of school was in a brick and paver company in Taylors Lakes. Growing up, I didn’t want to be in the 9-to-5 office grind and wanted something that’s more than just a job. I remember thinking about being in the police force or with the paramedics but didn’t apply.

As it turns out, I have three uncles from Mum’s side who are all in the MFB. When I was about 17, I did some work experience at Eastern Hills Fire Station. It’s Melbourne’s biggest and number 1 station and I would be involved in Friday displays where the community can visit the station and have a look.

After that, I still didn’t think of firefighting as a career option until I was in my early 20s. I just didn’t think it was a career a female could pursue. However, I wasn’t happy where I was. I know my uncles love the job, and I’ve had chats with them about it.

Loving a challenge, I decided to give it a good go and applied for the job. Unfortunately, the fitness component of the job was tough and I failed it. I had to wait for the advertisement again in a year’s time.

Every year, there are thousands of applications but only a handful get accepted. When I applied and got in, there were 3,500 applicants and only 36 people were accepted.

I worked on my fitness before the next recruitment drive. After I failed, I remember making up my mind and telling myself “This is what I want to do.” I trained for the Beep Test to make sure I could get to the level MFB wanted and spent a lot of time researching by visiting my uncles. By the time the next drive came around, I was ready.

It was super competitive, but I was finally accepted. There were 36 of us. We spent three months doing a ‘Recruit course.’ There was lots of hot fire training, which involved actual fire and classroom stuff. The 36 of us were from different backgrounds and industries. There are always a few ex-police and teachers; the MFB take a real variety of people.

Anyone can apply. MFB is open to having a diverse workforce, which is something the organisation is pushing in this day and age. It’s really important to have a team of different ages and backgrounds.

I spent my first year at Newport Fire Station. I was living in Altona Meadows then. The general rule is, you move to the CBD after a few years, experiencing different types of work. In the CBD, there are lots of high rise buildings and incidents such as bin fires and office fire alarms from a toaster take up time.

In the suburbs when we get called, it’s generally much bigger incidents such a car accident requiring medical response. It’s good to have a mix of both.

I have spent eight years in West Melbourne station, one year in Newport and about six years in South Melbourne. I’m currently based in Taylors Lakes Fire Station.

After a long time in the CBD, I got involved in the marine department. I obtained my marine qualification, enabling me to be a marine firefighter. I also completed my HAZMAT course. There are only about 150 of us in Victoria who have both qualifications.

Being a firefighter means you have to be confident in your decisions and forced to make a quick decision as time is critical. You hope everyone trusts each other, is happy and look forward to sitting down and having a meal with each other. You’re basically living with these people in the downtime. It’s important you become close to the people you work with as you need to rely on each other.

My grandpa is Polish and nanna is Russian (Dad’s side). They met on the train journey here after the war and have three kids. Their first home was in Maryston Street in Yarraville. I lived there for about four years and moved out at 22 as I got married.

I have four kids. One by birth – Des – from my marriage to my second husband Josh, and three stepkids from his first marriage. My stepkids are with us every second weekend.

When I met Josh, my current home in Yarraville only had two bedrooms. We knew we were going to have kids together as we had to cater to our large family. I didn’t want to move out of Yarraville and couldn’t afford the buying and selling process, so decided to knock down the house and rebuild. It had no heritage issues, and in February this year, we finally moved back in.

It was a nightmare period while the house was being rebuilt. I could only take 12 months off in the MFB and couldn’t get any access to childcare in Yarraville when I was due to go back to work. It’s really difficult as childcare is not catered and built around families who do shift work.

The house took longer than expected to build and when a spot in Norfolk Street Childcare opened up, I jumped at it. For four months, we housesat in different places in the Inner West and rented out of a little bungalow with an old school friend for eight months.

Daycare is a massive issue in Yarraville. There are not enough of them locally. They also aren’t long enough for my work hours. Josh is an arborist and he works travels a bit of distance for work. In March this year, we were lucky to have found an au pair, who lives with us.

Do you know Yarraville has the second highest rate of au pairs in Melbourne? I think the area has a lot of young families. It never used to be like that. I remember my nanna walking down with the shopping cart to the greengrocers and you didn’t see many young families.

We go camping along Cumberland River every December. It’s near Lorne, and I’ve been going there my whole life. It’s where I met Josh when we were teenagers. We had remained friends, gotten married to other people but kept in touch.

Josh and I got married five years ago. It was only natural to marry along Cumberland River. We both love the fresh waterfalls and creeks with the Great Ocean Road separating us from a quick walk and swim at the beach.

Every two years, the MFB participates in the World Police and Fire Games. Held every two years in a different country, I went to New York in 2011 and competed in the stair climb event and came in second. I’d like to participate in the 2019 event, which is in Chengdu, China. It’s really cool to meet other firefighters from all over the world.

Soon, MFB would start talking about recruiting again. The MFB is always on the lookout for more women. Firefighting is something women can definitely do. When I joined, there were only 24 other women out of 1,700 firefighters in Victoria. Now, there are about 75 women.

It’s important women go up the ranks and have an impact on the organisation on decision-making. We will be having a female commander soon. It’s one of the highest ranks up there.

The MFB is keen to advertise themselves as an ideal employer for women, and if there are any women within the Inner West who are keen to explore the idea, I am happy to talk to them.

Firefighting is a 30-year career. No one comes in and leaves. In the last 17 years, I can count on one hand the number of people who have left before 30 years. It’s a lifetime career that challenges you, and you never know what you’re going to be doing next.

I feel like my career is starting again. Des is nearly four, and these few years has just been a constant juggle. I’m really looking forward to the Christmas break and enjoying our new home in 2018.

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