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A group of local volunteer firefighters have been honoured with National Emergency Medals for their efforts at the Hamilton Airbase during the 2019-2020 Australian bushfire crisis.
The National Emergency Medal is part of Australia’s Honours and Awards system and recognises meaningful service to others in a nationally significant Australian emergency.
At a presentation ceremony held at the Hamilton Institute of Rural Learning on Friday 16 May, 17 firefighters from the region became the latest of more than 5,500 CFA members to receive the honour for the 2019-2020 fires.
Water bombing aircraft operating out of Hamilton Airbase has long been a key component of CFA’s incident response, supporting firefighting efforts at ground level with direct suppression of fire activity via aerial attack.
Aircraft operating out of the base rely on a volunteer bomber loader crew support to help prepare and load water and retardant and enable repeated water bombing runs to be conducted on request.
CFA Deputy Chief Officer South West Adrian Gutsche presented the medals and said they were an important recognition of the valiant efforts of CFA members.
“It is a great honour to receive the National Emergency Medal, and I hope it goes a small way to thanking our members for their service,” Adrian said.
“The work that the bomber loader crews undertake is hot, strenuous and requires a high degree of care and precision so that ongoing aerial attack operations can be conducted successfully.”
The Hamilton Airbase was activated on a total of 26 days during the 2019-20 National Emergency declaration for Glenelg and Southern Grampians, including a period of 15 consecutive days from 20 December 2019 to 3 January 2020 when fire activity was at its highest.
“We are incredibly grateful for the important contributions bomber loader crews made during this period to protect the community,” Adrian said.
“These volunteers come from brigades in Hamilton and surrounding areas and are members who have already dedicated many years of service within CFA.”
Hamilton Airbase Manager and medal recipient, Ron Huf said it was an honour to be formally recognised.
“I’m proud to be able to provide support to the community, through what I do at the airbase. It was my first year in that role and I had just done my training, which was fairly intense, but great preparation for what was to come,” Ron said.
“I’ve been within CFA for 45 years, and spent years as a Captain and Strike Team Leader, and I got to the point where I wanted a change from being out on the fire trucks and command vehicles.
“I found having an interest in aircraft and aviation, that I was drawn to helping in the airbase setting, and having managed resources, staff and other complexities in my past leadership roles I thought it would be a good opportunity to contribute in a different way.
Ron said the back-to-back days are long and hot, but the crew enjoy the camaraderie of the team environment.
“It is hard to quantify the work our members do at the airbase, and we all do different things within the group, but those out there loading planes definitely deserve to be recognised,” Ron said.
“While working at the airbase in a voluntary capacity, CFA provided us with welfare support, whether that was meals, accommodation and everything in between, they really looked after us.”