King's Birthday honour for veteran Toodyay fire volunteer Ian MacGregor

Australia Broadcast Center

4 days ago

More than three decades of dedicated service has seen a volunteer fire and rescue captain — who has responded to some of Western Australia's most traumatic road incidents — recognised with national honours.
Toodyay Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service (VFRS) captain Ian MacGregor has been awarded an Australian Fire Service Medal for his contribution to the Wheatbelt region as a volunteer firefighter over the past three decades.
Macca, as he is affectionately known locally, is the fourth member of the brigade in Toodyay, about 90 kilometres north-east of Perth, to receive the honour.
Mr MacGregor got his first taste of fighting fires shortly after moving to Toodyay in 1980, battling a fire near the Avon River on Christmas Day.
He officially joined the Toodyay VFRS in 1993 and has been the captain for more than two decades.
"In those days you just got on the truck and put the fire out," he said.
"I can help save one house or get someone out of a car and get them to hospital and help someone that's worse off than me."
Under Mr MacGregor's leadership, the brigade has more than doubled in size and boasts one of the highest female-to-male ratios in the state.
Mr MacGregor said looking after his team always came first, particularly during challenging and traumatic incidents.
"I preach this to all our crews — we didn't put them there," he said.
Mr MacGregor has been pivotal in improving the access to support services for witnesses to traumatic events.
"We unfortunately had a fatal accident out on Goomalling Road a few years ago and I was sitting in the fire truck when I noticed some people on the side of the road reeling from what they had seen," he said.
"I watched them and thought, 'What happens to them?'
"We, as firefighters, have counselling and peer support but they have nothing."
As a result, Mr MacGregor worked with the Volunteer Fire & Rescue Services Association of WA to ensure that adequate support resources were given to anyone involved in or witnessing a traumatic incident.
Throughout his decades of volunteering, Mr MacGregor has often seen tragedy touch his local community, including his own family.
Eighteen years ago, his eldest son Shane suffered a serious brain injury in a motorcycle accident.
"For 18 days while Shane was on life support we were told by staff at Royal Perth Hospital to not get our hopes up and that he was going to die," Mr MacGregor said.
After nine months of rehabilitation, Shane was released from hospital and brought back home to Toodyay where he has been embraced ever since.
This month Shane celebrated 25 years of volunteer service with the Toodyay VFRS, working alongside his dad.
"Shane is always the first to put his hand up to turn out to an incident and sets the example to others to never give up," he said.
"He brings a lot of fun and humour to the brigade, as well as at the local tennis and hockey clubs where everyone loves him."
Mr MacGregor's youngest son Darren has followed a similar path, working as a career firefighter in Perth.
Mr MacGregor said countless mentors and mates over his decades of involvement in VFRS made him the firefighter he was today.
"I've had a lot of good people come before me to get me to where I am."