Our People
8 March, 2026
From junior firefighter to captain
RAGLAN CFA Captain Adin Gillingham is one of those locals who lives and breathes CFA, having joined the brigade as a junior before working his way through neighbouring brigades and into leadership. Starting out with the Beaufort brigade in his younger years, Adin said firefighting was simply part of growing up in the bush.
“That’s what we did back in the day, there was not much TV or video games,” he said.
He later served with Elmhurst for about five years before settling in Raglan more than 20 years ago, where he continued to rise through the ranks to First Lieutenant and eventually Captain of the Raglan Fire Brigade, two years ago.
“At the time the brigade actually suited my work life and my home life.”
Adin stepped into the captain’s role following the devastating Bayindeen bushfire two years ago.
“I became captain after the 2024 Bayindeen fire. Ian Crick had been there for nine or ten years and I’d sat as First Lieutenant for a fair few years and then it was that stepping stone as the older generation got older,” he said.
“The good thing is being a First Lieutenant we’ve had a lot of great predecessors who have mentored us all through.”
Taking on leadership after the Bayindeen fires brought its own challenges, particularly when the threat was close to home.
“It changes things. When you go off to fires, you don’t have family that’s threatened, you’ve got no community, no assets. The dynamic changes of what you are thinking when your town is under threat. Never in 30 years had I had a fire of that magnitude in my backyard.”
Before the Bayindeen fires, the brigade had been concerned about how it would manage three appliances with only a handful of regular responders.
In the aftermath, however, volunteer numbers surged.
“We actually took on 10 new members, which was a good mix of men and women. We’ve got another six that just have to finish their general firefighting training, so we are going to be back up to about 20 operational members. Now we are getting trucks out the door.”
With many brigades suffering during working hours with lack of numbers, Raglan has found itself in a unique position, able to call on more close by residents.
“We’ve had a lot of younger people come in that are actually working from home. It’s bolstered our numbers to get trucks out during the day.”
The brigade has also recently welcomed a new tanker, five years in the making.
“To have a tanker that we can put a crew in and actually talk as a group to the incident is really good,” Aidn said, but he insists the brigade still loves the old equipment. “Everything is fit for purpose. We’ve held onto our old tanker that’s been here now 24 years. I’d hate to see the day that leaves,” he said.
Beyond firefighting, Adin sees the CFA as a vital part of small-town life.
“It’s been really good and we have a pretty positive community here,” he said.
“It’s important we treat it as a community hub, not just CFA but somewhere where we can come and meet.”
In the years since, Adin has focused on strengthening relationships with neighbouring brigades.
“Over the past four years, the doors are opening to our neighbouring brigades. There were silos created amongst the group where they had their toys and didn’t want to share. Now we are actually breaking barriers and we are finding the more we get on well with our neighbouring brigades the stronger we are and the better we are,” he said. Explaining that his own motto when it comes to being Raglan’s CFA captain it comes down to being a strong leader.
“If you have good leadership people have people follow, if you have bad leadership it’ll fester and you’ll go nowhere.”
Read More: Beaufort