Lieutenant Micheal Swayne said there were many CFS volunteers, mostly men, who were unavailable during the day because of work commitments.

“It works well in other towns where it might be a group of retired people or those working in town who can respond,” Mr Swayne said.

New CFS recruit Kerri Welden is keen to be part of the group. “This would be focused towards mothers at home, retirees, people who have their own business like me who can drop everything or staff of a very community orientated boss who can afford to lose a staff member on a call out. This has worked before in other places with mothers and there was a designated babysitter who would look after all the kids at the depot,” Ms Welden said.

“A lot of the calls are to the Ozone Hotel and places like that so usually just a resetting of the alarm after someone thought they were clever and hid in the bathroom or elevator smoking. Of course, there is the odd fire and all members are trained to deal with them,” Ms Welden said.

The Kingscote Group held its “burnover” refresher course at the weekend as the official fire season looms.

Ms Welden said the CFS was a rewarding experience but more of the members needed to be active. “We are actually maxed with members but there are really only a solid 12 or so that turn up at meetings.

“I’ve been a member of chambers of commerce and so on but for me to join a community group like CFS is so much more satisfying knowing it isn’t about me or my business but about being a part of the community and to help in any way I can.

“It isn’t just about fighting the big bushfires, we actually need to go to the meetings and training so we can form great teamwork and get to know the others on the team so that you know how they will react under pressure, what the best task would be for them in a call out.

“If I was actually in a big bushfire or even just a house fire, I would want to know everyone on my team because my life would be in their hands and theirs in mine,” Ms Welden said.