A NSW fire service chief says he’s proud to have encouraged the workforce diversity on display during his farewell tour of the state’s north-west.
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Fire & Rescue NSW (FRNSW) Commissioner Greg Mullins praised crews he met from all walks of life who gave up so much of their time to serve the community.
He also encouraged people to apply to become a retained firefighter, particularly women and those from an indigenous background.
The state’s longest-serving urban fire service chief in more than 100 years visited seven fire stations from Sunday to Tuesday ahead of his retirement early next year.
Commissioner Mullins said the aim of the tour was to personally thank and farewell retained firefighters.
Four decades ago it had been “just men, and mainly just white Anglo-Saxon men” among the ranks, but that had changed.
“Now we have people from all over the world, (at) Lightning Ridge, very diverse crews, some Aboriginal firefighters, people from the Philippines, one-third of the crew are women,” he said.
“So that diversity makes the organisation stronger and it’s something I’ve really pushed and very pleased to see taken up across the state.”