AUSTRALIAN Fire Service Medal winner Vic Walker is a modest man.
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He does not think his impressive role as a Rural Fire Service (RFS) volunteer is worthy of an award.
“I felt the nomination was someone else’s assessment – not my own,” he said.
“Someone thinks I have gone above and beyond the role of a volunteer.
“I just think I do what a volunteer does.
“I do my job to the best of my ability – that is what I have always done.”
Mr Walker said he was flattered and humbled to receive the award.
“My wife Beverly was quite chuffed,” he said
Mr Walker joined the Culburra Brigade in 1980 and is now Group Captain in the Shoalhaven District.
His commitment and dedication has not been confined to his brigade and group area but to the district and service as a whole.
He has served in virtually every major fire in the Shoalhaven District and was part of the original Remote Area Firefighting Team in the early 1990s. Operationally, Mr Walker possesses highly honed skills and knowledge and a capacity to think strategically to apply and act tactically, particularly under pressure.
His demonstrated leadership abilities from small to major incidents have been applied across the full spectrum of incident management tasks.
Above all, he loves playing a role in protecting the community.
“I fit in where needed but I love the chance to get back to the coalface [fighting fires],” he said.
His efforts during the Shoalhaven bushfire crisis in 2001 saw him awarded the Commissioner’s Certificate of Commendation.
