COMPLACENCY is setting in, despite the lessons of Black Saturday, writes CHRIS McLENNAN

Veteran firefighter Nev Jones doesn't like scaring people with his collection of nightmare tales from the Black Saturday bushfires.

His personal creed is all about respect for fire, not fear.

But the laconic hay contractor worries about the failure of authorities to penetrate the public's mind on fire danger.

"I think people are starting to forget about Black Saturday, about the royal commission," the star of a new media campaign said from his Moorooduc farm.

Captain Jones, 55, the public face of the Country Fire Authority's 60,000 volunteers, works hard to convince every Victorian to prepare for the worst.

He recently spoke at a community meeting trying to educate landowners about the need to ready their properties for fire and to consider that other simple safety device, a fire plan.

Only nine people attended.

A few weeks after the terrible 2009 fires that claimed 173 lives, Mr Jones spoke to a similar community meeting. That time 160 people showed up.

"Sometimes you feel like you are flogging a dead horse, but you have to keep plugging away ... it is this complacency which kills people," Mr Jones said.

Six generations of the Jones family have made this lush corner of the Mornington Peninsula their home and the risk of fire has always been uppermost in their minds.

Mr Jones joined the CFA when he was just 11 years old and has now served 20 years as captain.

His two sons are both members, his father was a CFA member for almost 70 years, and his mother has served as a volunteer for more than 50 years and is still the Moorooduc treasurer.

There's no escaping the importance of the CFA to the Jones' family and their neighbours.

A large green shed is the architectural landmark in this small community, which may have lost shops, churches and sporting groups but has rallied behind its local brigade.

Only recently the residents all pitched in, some donated endless hours at Saturday morning working bees for more than a year, to realise this $500,000 project for about a quarter of the cost.

"All the other community groups are struggling, but the fire brigade is still the glue for many small communities like ours," Mr Jones said.

The green fire shed is well maintained and is home to five CFA appliances, three operated by the local brigade and two for the regional command.

"It is a great organisation to be part of," he said. "Once it gets in your blood, it is hard to get out."

The acknowledgment of Mr Jones' worth as a firefighter was election to the board of Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria and selection as the front man for the organisation in a TV commercial promoting the need to prepare a fire plan.

"I wanted it to be a genuine ad, with real people ... there's no smoke and mirrors here," he said.

Mr Jones has fought countless fires, but was humbled by his 1983 Ash Wednesday and Black Saturday experiences.

A calm, assured man, he admits to crying uncontrollably at the end of one shift struck by the despair of family members trying to discover whether spouses, parents or even children were alive or dead in the aftermath of Black Saturday.

"We are constantly reviewing, constantly training, constantly working to get better as firefighters as a result of the lessons learned," Mr Jones said. "But until all these new procedures are actually tested in battle, we really don't know.

"Anyone who thinks we have fixed everything since Black Saturday and the royal commission is really naive."

Mr Jones said landowners should never find themselves in an emergency situation where they could have done something to help themselves.

"A well-prepared property is obvious to the experienced eyes of the CFA.

"These properties which have a plan means we can minimise the risk to our crews and it is their safety which is paramount.

"We don't want to scare anyone with our warning to prepare for fire, we just want people to be safe."