About 15 minutes after Rochester CFA first lieutenant Brett Kyne saw pictures of profanity and vandalism posted on the town’s community Facebook page he was at the bridge underpass, covering up the slurs.
While he may have been using the high-pressure hose off the back of the fire truck, he was acting more as a parent than a firefighter.
“It’s a busy walking track for families and kids on their way to school, it was pretty much all over the walls and on the footpath,” he said.
“My kids and other people’s kids don’t need to see that, families don’t need to see that rubbish.”
The culprits had used yellow and black spray paint to deface the walls before burning the cans to remove any evidence of where they had come from.
“We used graffiti removal spray for the concrete but figured it was going to be a costly venture using it on everything so we just got some paint to cover it up the best we could,” Brett said.
While he does not think it is a common problem in town, “it comes up every now and then”.
Brett has also thought of a way to keep it from happening again, while also fitting with the theme of the town.
“It could be a conversation we could have with all the murals and so forth getting around, to put a couple of murals up, and they use anti-graffiti spray so people can’t put things back over it,” he said.
The graffiti had been put up the night before under the bridge in the east of town crossing the Campaspe River.
There was only one clue left behind pointing to who might have done it.
“Someone with poor grammar,” Brett said.
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