Name: James Salkeld
Rank/Position: Deputy Captain 2 & Treasurer
Nickname: Jamie
Age: 49
Birthplace: Sydney
What brought you to the Valley? My family has had property in the Valley since the 1960s. I first came to the Valley when I was five. My family owned a property called Barrengarry House, one of the oldest houses in Kangaroo Valley. I used to come down as a kid and milk cows with the Cochranes and hang out with Graeme. I grew up in the Upper Hunter Valley near Scone and as an adult moved to Sydney and met Victoria. When we had kids, we wanted them to have space so we looked in the Valley and found a property in Budgong; we were lucky to be able to buy it, and we have been here ever since.
Marital status: Married to Victoria.
Children: Olivia 20 years old and Toby 18 years old.
Current profession: Rural Contractor – such as fencing, land clearing, tree felling, roofing work. My actual qualification is a sommelier, a wine judge.
When did you first joined the Brigade? We had a local brigade where I grew up in Belltrees, in the Upper Hunter. There was no membership or uniforms; you just turned up and fought fires. There were no trucks, you were lucky if you got a helmet and a rake hoe. I have been to a few fires with Dad when I was a kid. I remember Dad going out fighting fires and being away for weeks at a time. The farmers used to come together and say “There’s a fire on Tomo’s place”. Everyone would get together in their utes. We had a little 1000lt trailer, with a little petrol pump on the back, and that’s how we would fight fires. We used to fight fire with fire with backburning because we had very little resources. I become a member of Kangaroo Valley in 2013.
What was your motivation to join the Brigade? It is just what you did in the country, you had to. If you called 000, no one came. Yeah, good luck! Everyone clubbed together, you had to be self-reliant in the bush.
I know the value of having people in the fire brigade who know what they are doing. It is a resource we desperately need in the Valley. I like setting myself challenges and it has given me an opportunity to meet so many people in the Valley. It is a sense of community and giving something back and being a part of something. I value being in that team environment and working towards a good cause.
What is most rewarding in being a volunteer? Contributing to the community. I have been to Tasmania and all over the State fighting fires so it’s not just our community in Kangaroo Valley, it’s the wider community of NSW, if not Australia. The RFS has a good reputation and a high expertise level in what they do. They have a lot of training and a lot of resources, probably the most highly resourced firefighting unit in the country, more than Fire and Rescue NSW. We have more members and gear but then we do have more land to cover. Fire and Rescue NSW are more for the urban environment. I am not that fond of running into a burning building. If you are trying to save someone’s life that’s fine, but I am certainly not going to be running into a burning building to save ‘Jerry the Goldfish’.
What attracted you to being the treasurer? Dusty pushed me forward and said I would be good. The previous treasurer was moving away and someone had to step up to the role. I am really happy to do it. I have spent time streamlining processes. I just want to make that process easier for people. Members give up their time, and it is all volunteered base.
How did you achieve the position as Deputy Captain? It’s an elected position. I met the qualifications. I have a fair amount of experience and have done a lot of training. We are blessed in the brigade to have members who are committed to training and pushing themselves into getting that next qualification.
What does it take to train new members? Patience, and you need to be fairly good at communicating. It’s something new, a new resource that some people pick up really easily and other people just don’t get it. And that’s fine; people have different ways of picking up information. Ok, that is not working, let’s try a different way of explaining it. Everyone is different. If we were all the same, it would be pretty boring.
How did you accumulate your knowledge? Commitment to a lot of training hours. I have done a lot in a very short period of time. Once I did my Bush Firefighter training I thought “This is good, I like this; if I want to do this, I want to do it properly”. And I have a very patient wife, because it means a lot of weekends away training.
To be continued next month.
Interviewer: Tracey Basman KV Brigade Secretary
