Source: Victoria Country Fire Authority
Kelvin Bateman has been the driving force behind the successful Dunrobin-Nangeela Fire Brigade, just north of Casterton, for decades.
He is serving his 33rd year as captain of the brigade and has been a volunteer firefighter for more than 46 years. He still attends most brigade callouts, taking on the roles of crew leader and incident controller.
Kelvin is also the brigade’s community safety coordinator, and 2nd deputy group officer and communications officer for the Casterton Group.
He is held in high regard for his integrity, fair approach and leadership, and many volunteers turn to him for support in times of need in both operational and non-operational situations.
Kelvin’s deployments include the Coleraine and Churchill fires and north-east fires in 2009, the Blue Mountains in 2013 and the 2019-20 fires in Victoria. He has also led numerous strike teams across District 4 and neighbouring districts in response to large fires including the 2024 Kadnook and 2024-25 Grampians fires. In all these incidents he ensured that the safety and welfare of crews was his highest priority, which earned him the respect and admiration from those he served alongside.
Working in conjunction with Casterton Fire Brigade, Kelvin established Dunrobin-Nangeela as an urban support brigade to strengthen the capability across the district, and it has several accredited breathing apparatus operators.
At the group level, Kelvin is skilled at planning for campaign fires and allocating strike teams to ensure volunteer fatigue management is factored into operational decision-making. His clear understanding of the group’s brigades and resources is critical in making sure crews are not overworked and firefighting efforts are spread across the district.
In addition to his significant contribution to operational response, Kelvin has been a member of the District 4 Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria (VFBV) Council since it was established more than 20 years ago. He’s passionate about the safety of CFA volunteers and works with the VFBV and volunteers to achieve outcomes in the best interest of the district.
He has an unbiased and realistic approach when analysing CFA draft policies and procedures, helping to maintain a sensible approach for the organisation while also supporting volunteers. Kelvin’s determination to strive for better outcomes for volunteers led to him being appointed to the VFBV Board in October 2024.
He has been a member of the District Planning Committee (DPC) since 2012 and was the chair from 2021 to 2023. His contribution is recognised by all members as exemplary. As chair, he ensured meetings ran smoothly and actions were followed up. He spends many hours reading, researching and speaking to people though his well-developed networks to understand the issues presented to DPC.
“After I became the District 4 President of the VFBV Council in 2012, I visited all the district’s fire stations to assess what was needed,” Kelvin said. “My main passion has been to get better infrastructure and trucks for the district. I keep plugging away writing to people to improve the district’s facilities. Through the DPC, I was successful in getting toilets installed in all brigade stations.
“I’m also writing to our local MP and enclosing photos of what some of our stations look like.”
Kelvin has been part of the Rural Championships for more 32 years where he has made an outstanding contribution to help many young people develop and take up roles in CFA. As a founding member of the District 4 State Rural Championships Committee, he has played an important role encouraging numerous junior-aged members to join a brigade, join a running team and compete each year. He has mentored many brigade juniors and helped them to become senior volunteers, with many going on to become brigade lieutenants and captains.
“I trained the current captain of Henty brigade when he was 12 or 13 years old to compete in a running team,” Kelvin said. “A lot of youngsters I trained as juniors moved away, but over the past few years they come back to compete in Championships. It’s great that they still have an interest in the brigade.
“We need to mentor the youngsters in the brigade and keep them involved to make sure they know they are important. We need to talk to them all the time and keep them motivated and interested.”
He has also been involved in CFA’s Captains Peer Mentor Program where he is a sought-after mentor. His passion for leadership and knowledge makes him a valuable addition to the program and is another example of how Kelvin wants to encourage members to excel in their brigade roles.
“This program is important because it helps new captains develop an understanding of their responsibilities and role – for example, completing fire reports and the Section 29. I have also given feedback to VFBV about the program.”
As a farmer, Kelvin recognises that his leadership success within CFA is largely down to the support of his family.
“I could not have done everything I’ve achieved so far with CFA without the support from my wife Julie and two children Gabriella and Allan, as we run a 1,200-acre Angus beef farming operation, calving down 300 beef cows a year.”
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