TOM Christesen was born in Wodonga, however his ancestors - originally from Denmark - arrived in Beechworth in the gold rush years and have been here ever since - finding gold, growing apples and cherries.
“I’m 23-years-old and a proud local of Beechworth,” Tom said.
What do you do workwise?
In previous roles I have been a strength and conditioning coach, facility manager, forestry contractor, part of an arborist crew and now currently a batcher/driver at Mawsons Concrete in Beechworth.
What brought you to your role/career?
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Mawsons offered a full-time role down the road from where I live, and I leaped at the opportunity to gain further experience with heavy machinery.
What do you love about your work?
I love getting out and using machinery, but most of all I love getting out and helping concreters build things in the community.
What do you do in the community?
With what little time I have left in my working week, I spend it at the Beechworth CFA station for the Beechworth Fire Brigade.
Here I focus on maintenance of the station, the equipment both on and off the fire trucks, but also honing my firefighting tactics and strategies, resulting in an effective and efficient management of an emergency event in our community.
It is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done - helping those in need whilst in their darkest moments.
Is there an important community issue that you think needs addressing?
Being part of the Beechworth Fire Brigade, we were very busy with “grass and scrub fires” last summer.
Mostly they were the result of burn off’s getting out of control or simple accidents.
With only one pumper (urban response) and one tanker (off road response) we are very limited with having enough water and capability to tackle these.
I strongly urge people to accept responsibility for their own fire safety, prepare their properties, register their burn off’s, check the weather, and prepare their burns by having fire breaks, adequate water and tools on hand, keeping their burns contained.
What would you do to solve change, improve that situation?
I would love to have more fire trucks holding more water available to the brigade, but I know this can be a hard issue to solve.
I strongly urge people if they have any questions about fire safety to please contact their local brigade (Beechworth is on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok).
Not only this but I would urge people to pass on their lessons learnt to friends and family.
The more people who can be knowledgeable about fire, the less we have to respond, after all we are just volunteers.
What do you see as one of the most important current world issues?
People argue and fight because beliefs differ.
We live in a free world with free speech.
The minute we stop having conversations because of fear of offense, that becomes a dangerous realm to play in.
“A fool contributes nothing worth hearing and takes offense at everything” - Aristotle.
If a group you would most like to meet or knew, came to Indigo Shire (past or present), or was already here, who would that be, what would you show them, and why?
Australian rock band AC/DC so they can put on an awesome show at the Hotel Nicholas.
What book are you reading?
A memoir ‘Never Finished’ by American retired United States SEAL, and author David Goggins.
