DORRIGO'S David Hitchcock has been recognised for his many contributions to the community by being included on the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours List.
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Mr Hitchcock - who has been named as a recipient of the Australian Fire Service Medal - has provided almost 40 years of service to the community of NSW and currently serves as a Retained Firefighter with Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW), starting with that organisation in 1998.
"I'm very humbled and honoured, thank you to the community and whoever nominated me, but I'm just one part of a wider team across NSW, and across Australia," he said.
He began fire duties in 1980 with the then Forestry Commission of NSW, before moving to NSW NPWS with a focus on Incident Management and training.
He has a strong background in training those on the fireground, and because of his experience and skills, he often takes the lead role as Incident Controller when responding to emergencies, including in the recent bushfire crisis.
Mr Hitchcock now operates the Fire and Emergency Training Company, based in Dorrigo, using his wealth of knowledge and experience to teach others.
"I originally came here in 1987 on a one-year contract, and just never left, I'm still here 33 years later," Mr Hitchcock said.
"There had always been a few of us talking about stepping into private enterprise one day and starting a fire and incident training company so when I was made redundant in 2014, we all jumped at the chance.
"Since we started, Fireground Leadership and Training has gone from strength to strength, and we now operate nationally, and internationally."
This year there are a total of 993 Australians being recognised on the Queen's Birthday Honours List.
There are 710 recipients of awards in the General Division of the Order of Australia (3 AC, 50 AO, 200 AM and 457 OAM), 28 recipients of awards in the Military Division of the Order of Australia (3 AO, 12 AM and 13 OAM); and, 128 meritorious awards.
"In this list, we see all the positives that are in our community - we see the great ideas, we see the hard work, we see the love and compassion for fellow human beings - it's a microcosm of Australia," the Governor-General said.
"This list recognises a group of outstanding Australians who have made a contribution to their community, to Australia globally or domestically. Their efforts have been noted by their peers; they've been nominated and assessed independently as worthy of recognition.
"The system is driven by nominations. To me, that's the most critical thing - it's bottom-up, recommendations from peers drive it. The system belongs to all Australians."
