Northam volunteer firies working tirelessly for community

In fact, Northam Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service is one of the busiest volunteer crews in Western Australia.

In the past year, the crew of 25 volunteers went to about 115 jobs, from house fires to serious car crashes - on top of their paid work commitments.

Northam VFRS captain Scott Horlin, who has been a volunteer for 28 years, said this made the brigade the eighth busiest volunteer fire and rescue service in the state.

"We have a pretty large district to cover, just in town alone," he said.

"We have a gazetted area we are responsible for and outside that area is the bushfire brigades.

"We also offer back-up support to Toodyay, Goomalling, York and Wundowie and the Northam Shire.

"We are pretty busy."

He said call-outs included removing a ring stuck on a finger, saving kittens from a chimney, rescuing a child stuck in a swing and breaking down a door to rescue an elderly person, who had fallen over, and needed ambulance assistance.

Mr Horlin said fires were the most common call-out in town.

"These can be structure fires to grass fires," he said.

"We usually have one or two major house fires a year."

Mr Horlin said the crew attended "too many" car crashes and were responsible for freeing passengers with the Jaws of Life and directing the RAC Rescue helicopter.

"We have one of the busiest areas for road rescues in the state," he said.

"Great Eastern Highway keeps us pretty busy, unfortunately.

"But also on the little country roads people get complacent or too confident, or fatigued."

Mr Horlin said there was no way to properly prepare for what they may encounter at a crash.

"You just don't know what you're going to see when you get there," he said.

"You get as much information as you can from Perth, like how many people are in the car, but when you get there the car could be stuck in the tree.

"Obviously we do training and skill ourselves up to handle the task, but for the emotional side of things, we come back and talk to each other."

Mr Horlin said the Department of Fire and Rescue provides a counselling service and touched base with volunteers following a serious crash.

"They make sure everyone is coping emotionally with the things they see," he said.

"They are really good now and recognise mental stresses are very high in emergency services."

Mr Horlin said the volunteer brigade shared a special bond.

"We're like an extended family and you're there to help each other out," he said.

"You walk into a house and you have flames licking around the roof.

"You want to know they are right there behind you."

Mr Horlin said he enjoyed the role.

"It's a service we provide to the community and without it, the community would suffer," he said.

"I don't feel like I have to do it, but it's something I like doing.

"Without us, who is going to cut people out of cars and put out house fires and grass fires down the river?"