Emergency Services Academy on Friday. Emily is pictured with her mum,
Bernadette Northey (who is a FRNSW event
coordinator) and Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell. ▪ Photo contributed
The NSW Minister for Emergency Services, Jihad Dib, welcomed 169 new firefighters to the Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) ranks at a graduation ceremony at the Emergency Services Academy in Orchard Hills in Sydney on Friday.
Among them was Fire and Rescue NSW Cobar Station 256’s newest firefighter, Emily Coleman.
Emily recently completed the intensive training that enabled her to officially join Fire and Rescue NSW.
The Minister said it was a proud day for Fire and Rescue and the community of NSW, but even more so for the latest graduates.
“It takes a special kind of person to prioritise the safety of others ahead of their own and I have no doubt our newest recruits will create positive impacts in their communities for many years to come,” Minister Dib said.
FRNSW Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell wished the new recruits success on their Fire and Rescue NSW journey.
“Fire and Rescue NSW provides an amazing service to the people of New South Wales and beyond and we do that based on our work of having really good foundational skills in an operational sense but, equally important is that we try and do everything we can do to keep the community safe and prevent incidents from occurring,” Commissioner Fewtrell said.
“From today, you are part of an organisation where the safety and community trust is at the heart of everything we do.”
The new group of first responders hail from very diverse backgrounds, including teaching, carpentry, electrical, fitness, architecture and Defence Force personnel and they bring with them all sorts of skills.
“While today’s graduates come from diverse backgrounds, they have one thing in common – a drive to protect the irreplaceable,” Commissioner Fewtrell said.
He said their personal backgrounds, different cultural backgrounds and different language skills will all help FRNSW to engage with the community.
The new recruits will join metropolitan and regional fire crews across the state, where they will be called upon to put their intensive training into action.
