NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) New England Zone came together on Sunday afternoon to celebrate an accumulated total of 449 years of service from the day's 19 medal recipients, and the official opening of training and logistics units in Armidale.
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The length of service some of these people have given to their community, and that's really what it is - a long time
- Cr Simon Murray
An investment of $749,000 was announced for the New England area with official handover of a new vehicle and the opening of a new facility for the New England Logistics. The regional New England Remote Area Fire Team (RAFT) brigades training centre for the highly trained members of the Rapid Aerial Response Team is now also co-located at the new station.
RFS Assistant Commissioner Rebel Talbert said she really wanted to thank all the medal recipients and their families for what they do.
"For all of the hard work they have put in. All of the blood, sweat and tears that go into the kind of work that you do. Day in and day out, and in the middle of the night when nobody's watching," she said.
"It hard. It's hard for your families and its hard for you to see the things that you see. There are very, very difficult things out there on the fire ground, or a car accident or whether it's absolutely devastating fire like Tingha.
"It's hard stuff. I think a lot of that has gone unrecognised because we have this view of firefighters as being heroes, and they're tough and they can handle everything."
Armidale Regional Council Mayor Simon Murray said he was very impressed with the medal presentation ceremony.
"The length of service some of these people have given to their community, and that's really what it is - a long time," he said.
"Basically it would be nearly full-time service they have given. There is a lot of experience there, and the community really benefits from community volunteering."
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Cr Murray said he commended anyone who dedicated their lives to volunteering in any area, and said he thought it was great to recognise them.
Chair of the New England Bushfire Management Committee Michael Pearce said it was a great day with everyone on a high.
"It's nice to be a part of all these men and women in yellow," he said.
"This is a great day, all this new infrastructure and the training facilities for the helicopter guys, it's going to be fantastic.
Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall attended the ceremony and said it was always an exciting time when you got to open new facilities and hand over new vehicles.
"I think it is the first chance since the Tingha fires that we have had a chance for a large group of RFS people come together in celebration, rather than seeing each other on the fire ground," he said.
"It is rare for the RFS to have such a well located facility. The airport here provides an essential fire fighting tool, we saw that at Tingha. Aerial fire fighting operations co-ordinated out of here go all the way down to the Tamworth area and up to the Queensland border."
He said he would like to see more RFS infrastructure moved to Armidale because the new station would provide enhanced support to volunteers as well as the brigades and communities they protect.
