First female chief ignited at Appleby Fire Station

Bella Melchers is “absolutely rapt” with her appointment to Appleby Volunteer Fire Brigade’s top job.

The former deputy chief takes the torch from Paul Eggers who served 17 years as the station’s chief.

Bella says she wasn’t initially sparked to apply for the role as she thought it would better suit a younger member, but her illuminating 30 years at the Appleby station extinguished her application doubts.

She says her main goals as the first female chief at the Appleby brigade include getting more women fired up to join.

“I was involved when FENZ had a National Women’s Advisory Committee and we also had a regional one… so definitely am a keen driver for [recruiting more females] but the focus of those groups has changed a little bit, it’s about inspiring women rather than looking at the differences,” she says.

“The reason I joined was the fire trucks and equipment that was based at Rabbit Island needed to relocate off the island,” she says.  

“And the local community at the time felt there was a need to have a brigade to protect Rabbit Island if it went up in flames, so a brigade was established in 1989.

“Then they were looking for members and they asked if I could promote it and find some new members, which I did… and then actually I realised I could probably do that if they accept women.

“Appleby has undergone quite a few changes in the last few years. Covid disrupted quite a lot of things so we were quite limited in terms of what we could do, then the changes from rural fire network, through to fire and emergency,” she says.

“But I think once we had the official opening last year in December, it came to a point where we were sort of thinking it’s starting to be business as usual.”