Pulling together after horror crash earns Denmark Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service WAFES award nomination

Denmark Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service is one of three nominations for a prestigious WA Fire and Emergency Services team award.

The volunteer firefighting team award acknowledges a volunteer brigade, team or taskforce who together have made a real difference in their community over the past 12 months, with Denmark nominated alongside brigades from Nickol Bay and the Shire of Ravensthorpe.

The awards night takes place in Perth in September.

Brigade captain Darin Hockley said it was humbling to be nominated and that it was recognition for the way the unit had pulled together after the devastating incident in April last year when a fire-truck rollover resulted in serious injuries to two crew members.

“We are honoured to be nominated and thank the person who did the nomination, which was not a two-second job,” he said.

“I think the main difference for us was because of the way we all bonded together after that incident.

“We have certainly got closer together and become like a family unit since then.

“That closeness then comes through when we go to incidents or get involved with our community engagements like the bushfire weekend and visits to schools.

“We do what we do because we enjoy it and because we want to help people and not because we want to get awards.

“However, it is humbling to be nominated and great to be recognised.”

The brigade now has 32 members with several new faces joining the older hands over the last year.

“When I first joined 30 years ago, it was a struggle to recruit new people and for a long time I was the youngest member,” Mr Hockley said.

“Now I am the old bugger.

“It has been great to have that mix of younger people; we definitely need a young crew, but we also need plenty of people with real-life experience.”

The Shire of Ravensthorpe’s nomination came from a member of the public and includes eight bushfire brigades which tackled the devastating 2025-26 summer season of bushfires, including the West River blaze in December last year.