As one of only a handful of firefighters trained in urban search and rescue at the time, Chief Superintendent Steve Hirst was tasked with pulling bodies from the rubble of Australia's worst ever landslide.
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"It was the biggest thing that had happened in the urban search and rescue world at the time," he said about the 1997 Thredbo landslide that killed 18 people.
Superintendent Hirst helped rescue Thredbo survivor Stuart Diver and recovered the bodies of many others, including Mr Diver's wife Sally.
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Almost 22 years after the disaster, the Superintendent has moved on and doesn't talk much about his Thredbo experience.
Since then he's climbed the Fire and Rescue NSW career ladder, as a Zone commander in Tamworth and most recently in Port Macquarie.
Now the Superintendent has ventured out west to Dubbo, where he is taking on the Regional West Zone area commander role.
"My area covers three zones from the Upper Hunter near Singleton, over to the South Australian border and down to the Victorian border," he told the Daily Liberal.
"It's about 500 square kilometres and we have 900 staff and 51 retained firefighting stations."
While Dubbo is his new base, Superintendent Hirst said his role will involve a lot of travel across regional NSW.
"I want to get out and meet our people in Broken Hill, Bourke, Brewarrina, Orange, Bathurst and Lightning Ridge," he said.
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Continued collaboration with other emergency services organisations, to protect the community, is a priority for the Superintendent.
"We work in conjunction with the State Emergency Service, Rural Fire Service, Ambulance NSW and police.
"We're in the same business, we just wear a different badge."
He said preventing fire emergencies and educating the community about risks are also priorities for him.
"Prevention and education is key.
"We work with industry and the state government to ensure there we're heading towards zero fire fatalities."
Recruiting more firefighters and engaging with the communities firefighters protect are also high on Superintendent Hirst's agenda.
"We want to make sure our fire stations are a reflection of the people we're serving.
"We've also got an open day coming up where we'll be throwing our doors open on the morning of May 18 so people can come meet our team."
As for life outside work, Superintendent Hirst said he and his wife are already loving what the central west has to offer.
"We went to the zoo on the weekend and I look forward to going to the Parkes Elvis Festival again," he said.