For 22 years Gordon Hill has been helping members of the Rural Fire Service deal with the stress and trauma of fighting fires and seeing some horrific scenarios.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Now the Cobar local is being recognised for his decades of commitment, especially his role as a critical incident support service peer, with nomination in the Rotary NSW Emergency Services Community Awards.
Mr Hill has been a member of the RFS for 45 years and the State Emergency Service for 40 as well as deputy chairman of the Cobar Health Council, and member of the Western Primary Health Network Community Council.
Mr Hill grew up in the small village of Urbenville in northern NSW and said he was motivated to join the community groups because his family had always been active participants.
“I got involved in the RFS in 1972 because the local RFS brigade had gone defunct so a few of us got together and decided to start it up again. We organised a public meeting, and I became the secretary and senior deputy captain.
“It was a similar story with the SES, I had a distant relative who was killed in a bulldozing accident when a tree fell down and pinned him. It was several hours before he was found.
“I started to think if that happened and someone was found alive, we wouldn’t prepared.”
In 1989 Mr Hill moved to Cobar to become the regional officer for the Department of Bush Fire Services (later RFS) before becoming a regional operations manager.
He remained a brigade volunteer throughout his employment with the RFS. He also maintained his involvement in the Volunteer Rescue Association and SES in Cobar.
In 1995 Mr Hill became a critical incident support service peer for the RFS, providing initial counselling support for other members who had been involved in traumatic incidents. For the last 13 years he has been providing the same service for the SES.
“It’s a very tough job but it’s also very rewarding. I’ve worked with hundreds of people over the years and tried to help them recover from incidents,” he said.
“We will talk to someone for three to six weeks and some will be okay after that, others will be referred for further help.”
The advances in welfare for emergency services personnel over the past three decades were amazing, Mr Hill said, with no professional support given in the early stages of his career.
Mr Hill said he was honoured to have been nominated for the Rotary Emergency Service Community Awards and welcomed Rotary giving recognition to volunteer organisations such as the RFS and SES.
Winners of the awards will be named at a dinner at Bankstown Sports Club on August 4.
