More than four thousand CFA members will receive a National Emergency Medal over the coming months, a reflection of the scale and the significance of the Black Saturday disaster which saw a significant from both frontline firefighters and support staff behind the scenes.
The nomination of members and awarding of medals on such a large scale has been an intensive process, involving a large cross-section of volunteer and staff personnel.
A coordinating team (based within the Operational Training and Volunteerism directorate at CFA Headquarters) has worked closely with the Australian Honours and Awards Secretariat in Canberra on the approval of nominations.
The team is also working with regional leadership to determine how and when presentations will be rolled out.
The National Emergency Medal recognises service to others during a nationally significant emergency – in this case the bushfires of January and February 2009 where more than 19,000 CFA members were involved in frontline firefighting, incident management and support behind the scenes.
Questions
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Author: Sonia Maclean