It wasn't hard to look past Rob Keith who has volunteered for the CFA for 60 years and was recognised for his achievement at their annual dinner on May 6.

Mr Keith said he has "loved every minute" of being part of the CFA.

"I am really enjoying it, still liking it," he said.

"To help someone in their time of need is why I still do it, it gives great satisfaction to know they can go home safely to their family."

Mr Keith followed in his father Don Keith's footsteps in joining the CFA who was a former captain of the Amphitheatre station.

After six decades in the brigade Mr Keith said he still loved being part of the team.

"The comradeship is my favourite part, everywhere you go if you mention you are part of the CFA you feel included in whatever town you are in," he said.

"If you go to another town I automatically still look for the fire station to have a look and compare notes."

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Mr Keith said a lot had changed since joining the Amphitheatre CFA at the age of 16.

"One thing that you can never say is that you know everything, because there is always something new happening," he said.

"All of the safety gear and protection, once upon a time we didn't have that.

"One of the hardest things has been keeping up with modern technology.

"When I was at school we had a pen and paper and that was it, now everyone has a computer of some description."

Mr Keith has been involved in competitions for 21 years and a judge at the CFA state championships for 11 years.

Despite not being able to do as much as he used to, he was still dedicated to training Ararat's juniors to prepare them for competition and their future in the brigade.

"At my age it is time to take a backwards step and allow the younger members to come through if you don't do that they won't stick around," he said.

"We have a very good group of younger ones coming through, which is what we need badly.

"We need to look after them as they are our future firefighters."

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After spending such a large portion of his life in the brigade, he emphasised the amount of hard work and dedication which is required to be a firefighter.

"A lot of people think once you put the fire out that's the job done but there is over an hour's work back at the station that is required afterwards," he said.

"The crew needs to restow the hose and clean everything so it is ready to go again, the members are good, they stay back and help afterwards.

"Being a firefighter is definitely a family thing as they used to say behind every fireman is a good fireman's wife.

"Partners need to put up with a lot, whether it is waking up at all hours of the morning or being gone for days at a time. Without their backing you wouldn't do it"

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