At just 21 years of age, Shepparton's Caitlin Dewar is making history in the Country Fire Authority.
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She was recently elected as the Shepparton CFA’s first ever female Lieutenant, paving the way for a future generation of females.
A volunteer member for four years now, she said her new role had provided an improved level of opportunity and promotes the future generation of leaders.
"It's a really good opportunity to create leadership, help develop skills and learn the different aspects that go into the day to day running of the brigade," she said.
"It's something I've wanted to do since I was a child - once you're in the (brigade) it's not just about having fun but really about helping out the community."
Ms Dewar joined the brigade four years ago following a dream she had held as a little kid.
With no family or friends to follow in the footsteps of, Ms Dewar said she worked hard as a volunteer to establish her position in the brigade.
"I think it's a great opportunity for me to have the role, its an honour to be voted in by everyone else - to show other females anyone can do it young and old," she said.
Ms Dewar was elected into the 4th Lieutenant role during recent brigade elections which were held to allocate new office bearers.
The mandatory elections, held every two years, give members a chance to experience different roles including Lieutenant, community safety coordinator, training officer, chairperson and Occupational Heath and Safety officer.
Shepparton CFA Commander Travis Harris said within the group people were nominated before a vote was held for each of the positions.
"Some of them are administrative roles which assist with the running of the brigade and we have others such as Lieutenants which are fire ground operations and also assist with running the brigade in different functional areas," he said.
With the restructure of the fire service and the firefighters reform coming into play in the near future, Mr Harris said local brigades were experiencing a number of changes.
With the new Shepparton fire station also set to be built in the next 12 months, Mr Harris said he believed the Shepparton branch was in a strong position to continue protecting the community.
"It's really positive to see the group that we have made up of all different people from different backgrounds, it gives us a lot of strengths moving forward," he said.
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