The month of May is an important one for CFA. It’s a month of reflection and respect, where we honour, celebrate and share the stories of our people who have contributed selflessly to making Victoria a safer place.
Every year on 4 May we recognise International Firefighters’ Day and show our appreciation for those who selflessly protect the life and property of Victorians every day of the year.
At our annual firefighter memorial service at Belmont on Sunday, we remembered our firefighters who lost their lives serving our community, and we commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Linton fire that claimed the lives of five Geelong West firefighters, and the 35th anniversary of the devastating Ash Wednesday fires that claimed the lives of 14 Victorian firefighters.
Reading the Roll of Honour at this ceremony fills me with a deep sense of gratitude to those whom we have lost. We pay our respects to them and their families for paying the ultimate price in the line of duty.
Later this month, we’ll celebrate how our people continue to innovate and deliver for their communities with the inaugural Spirit of CFA Awards. I would like to thank the many nominees (and those who took the time to nominate) and wish the finalists the best of luck for the awards. I think we can agree that each of these people, teams and projects is worthy of our recognition. We’ll be featuring many of these stories over the next year with you.
This all takes place during National Volunteer Week, which we proudly take part in as one of Australia’s most passionate, dedicated collective of people making sacrifices for the good of their communities.
I am always humbled when told accounts of the dedication shown by our people. We’re held in high regard out there and rightly so.
It is a privilege to have the quality of people CFA has representing us within Victorian communities.
I get a lot out of hearing about those stories of success from you, so please keep sharing them with me, by phone, email or when I see you, so we can all be proud to be a part of CFA.