John McCombe a retired teacher and Merrijig CFA volunteer firefighter, has written a booklet about the Merrijig Brigade's 100 year history.

It will be launched at the Merrijig CFA open day, on Saturday 8 November, where visitors will be able to purchase a signed, very limited, first edition copy.

Starting around two years ago, when the centenary subcommittee first formed, John McCombe spoke with the now late Neville Mathieson, about how he went about writing the Mansfield Urban Fire Brigade's 150 history.

What followed was lots of research, reading, and detective work including working with Anne Ware at the Mansfield Historical Society, online research on Trove, digging through past editions of the Mansfield Courier and lots of interviews with locals.

John has produced the booklet about the growth of the local fire brigade since it was officially formed in 1925, as small community firefighting group, funded by local farmers, to what it is today, a 100 per cent volunteer-run brigade which is member of the Victorian CFA.

There's information about vehicles and equipment, about local fires, big and small and tales of some harrowing near misses on the fire ground.

"There's so much knowledge and history out in our community about the role our brigade and its members have played.

"As I was speaking with past and current members about different aspects, I kept thinking that someone should document the history of all this before it's gone," said John McCombe.

"This booklet is very much a first edition - designed to get readers to say 'Hey, I can add to that'.

"I'm very much looking forward to being sent their information, stories and photos for edition two," he said.