THE flames have been burning far longer on Rohan Scott’s hazy destiny than the new head of the ACT Rural Fire Service could picture it.

It is through almost grainy, sepia vision that the 46-year-old more clearly visualises descendants of the first Canberra Fire Brigade squatting fire beaters as much as holding a hose.

“Looking back through the history of the Rural Fire Service, some of my ancestors were actually a part of the original forming of the brigade way back in the early 1900s,” Rohan says.

“I’m related to the McKechnies that were one of the first founding members of the rural brigade.”

That legacy dates back to when the future capital was little more than a sheep station in 1913. 

Firefighting was remarkably a lot different in the surrounding bush then than under the chief’s current watch where technology is just a fingertip away.

The caretaker of the observatory was tasked with being on the lookout for fires so to telephone the central administrator and notify men owning bicycles and horses to congregate to the blaze. 

The McKechnies knew the land well before any GPS, let alone maps of the territory.

“My grandmother’s family owned the land up near Eaglehawk – McKechnie Lane is named after the family. They used to also own land along Majura Road,” Rohan says.

“I didn’t know any of this at the time until I saw the history of the service.”

This occurrence at the 100-year anniversary celebrations of the ACT Rural Fire Service only happened after first casting his eye over the ghostly documents. 

After nearly 20 years rising up the ranks from the frontline, it all made sense.

“I wouldn’t say it cemented my service because I was well and truly into it, but it gave me that stronger connection, I suppose, of what it does and means for the community,” Rohan says.

Amid a sometimes transient community where bureaucrats file in just as often as the nation changes governments, there’s something reassuring about the Canberra dad of three taking charge following his appointment in January.

The MacGregor resident had been keeping the seat so warm for nearly 12 months that it was a seamless transition from his acting role to take over for good.

Half of a decorated life – now 23 years in the fire service – dedicated to protecting the ACT after a family’s commitment that started five generations ago.

“I’ve never moved out of the same postcode,” Rohan says. “That’s how set in my ways I am”.

The familiar face at the Molonglo Rural Fire Service Brigade could just as easily extinguished the flickering tinder on the career.

Facing the ferocity of fires was the last thought kicking around his mind.

It was only the intervention of a good mate that set Rohan down a different path. 

“He kept disappearing to this place he called the shed,” Rohan recalls.

“He’d say, ‘I’ve got to go to the shed’ for something.

“At the end of the day, I thought well what’s all this shed about.

“So I tagged along with him one evening and found out what he was referring to was this Rural Fire Service. I met some amazing people and joined up from there.”

It was “fortunate” timing for the wide-eyed rookie.

There was no pecking order among members inside a Holt shed.

The brigade was established that very same year.

“Everything was new and we could develop, I’d say, in our own history and culture for that particular Molongo brigade,” Rohan says.

The eventual successor to the retiring chief Joe Murphy had a good grip on last summer’s Black Summer Fires that impacted heavily on the ACT.

As bad as they burnt, it only takes Rohan a moment of recollection to head back to the 2003 Canberra Bushfires to find out the character of the man under fire and still relatively raw.

“Just purely sheer size and scale of the fire and we had never really worked with anyone else,” Rohan says.

“We went down the road and the fire came over the top of us.

“A little bit later, we went down the same road and a second fire came through with the ground fuel. It was hairy.”

Four people died, a further 490 were injured and nearly as many homes were all but obliterated.

But there could have been more had his crew not stepped up.

“I know the five of us that were on that truck during January 18, 2003, have a special bond that will never be broken,” he says.

“We saved two people out of Stromlo Forest settlement when that was completely engulfed.

“As a crew, we probably shouldn’t have driven in there, but decided to go in anyway.”