Australia Day Achievement Awards for our local rural fire brigades
By Sonia Isaacs
TWO Hinterland Rural volunteer Fire Brigades have been recognised for their exceptional crew support during the October and November 2023 bush fires.
Both Landsborough and Crystal Waters Rural Fire Brigades were singled out for distinction at the recent Queensland Fire and Emergency Service (QFES) Australia Day Achievement Awards.
Held on Tuesday, January 23 at the Nambour RSL, the awards celebrated the efforts of the QFES North Coast Region. In a written statement QFES Acting Commissioner Stephen Smith AFSM said the awards were a chance to congratulate staff and volunteers who had consistently gone above and beyond for their communities.
“Congratulations to the award recipients for their achievements and thank you for your commitment, resilience and dedication to QFES and Queensland,” he said.
The Landsborough Rural Fire Brigade (LRFB) support team were acknowledged for their exceptional efforts during the 2023 Beerwah/Landsborough fires.
LRFB secretary Helen Jakeman, said it was lovely to be recognised and an honour to accept the award on behalf of all the support crew involved.
“Some of us have been doing this for the last 30 years, so it was good to have some recognition of what we’ve done,” she said.
Landsborough Rural Fire Brigade First Officer Mark Jakeman was also awarded for his outstanding leadership during the Beerwah/Landsborough Fire Events.
As incident controller at multiple fires, Mr Jakeman acknowledged that 2023 was an unusually hectic fire season.
“We just had so many large fires almost on top of each other. For a period there it just never ended; and there was a constant rolling of large scale incidents,” he said.
Mr Jakeman said he was honoured to be recognised, especially as the awards were peer-nominated, however he wasn’t particularly comfortable about “pulling out his own trumpet and having a blow of it.”
“Obviously I wasn’t the only one there who deserved recognition as it was a team effort to get these fires done,” he said.
“Behind the scenes, there are a lot of people involved – its not just the crew on the ground. The logistics to manage the large number of people and resources needed to fight those fires was also a huge and commendable effort.”
