National Emergency Medal awarded to 13 from Narrabri Fire and Rescue

Thirteen firefighters from Narrabri’s Fire and Rescue Station have been awarded the National Emergency Medal.

A contingent from the Narrabri station travelled to Tamworth to participate in the awards ceremony on Saturday.

Medal recipients were station captain Shane Bradford AFSM, deputy captain Lucas Warren, Clayton Browning, Tim Korteland, Dean Browne, Luke Morgan, Lee Rich, Cemeron Cronin, Brenton Ward, Jason Anderson, Ben Duncan, Jock Small and Darrell Tiemens.

The medal pays tribute to the firefighters’ efforts during the 2019/2020 bushfire season.

It is awarded to those whose service must be in the protection of lives and property or in the service of interests that are not their own and who supported the emergency response for at least five days.

Governor-General David Hurley approved the medal declaration and criteria following the disastrous fire events which took place across Australia from June 2019 to May 2020.

The catastrophic season burnt more than 46 million acres of land and destroyed at least 3500 buildings. Tragically, 34 people died as a result of bushfires.

“Over almost five months, our firefighters were deployed as part of state-wide ‘strike teams’ to battle bushfires from Northern NSW and Southern Queensland, to the Southern Highlands and the Victorian border, experiencing some of the most unprecedented fire conditions ever recorded,” Narrabri Fire and Rescue captain Shane Bradford AFSM said.

In addition to the presentation of the National Emergency Medals, two Narrabri Fire and Rescue firefighters were recognised for service milestones.

Deputy captain Joab Rushton was a National Medal receipient for 15 years’ government service.

Firefighter Clayton Browning was the recipient of the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal for 10 years’ service to Fire and Rescue.