13 November 2019
The vital contribution that employees of Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) make to protecting the community was celebrated at a special awards ceremony in Lisburn on Tuesday 12 November.
The event, held at the Lagan Valley Island Centre, saw the presentation of Long Service Medals to members of staff who have completed 20 years and 40 years’ service as well as commendations for teams who had carried out particular acts of bravery over the past year.
The event also involved the awarding of Employee Awards to individuals and teams who have gone above and beyond in contributing to the Service in the past 12 months.
The 20 Year Long Service and Good Conduct Medals were presented by the Queen’s Representative, Lord Lieutenant of the County of Tyrone, Robert Lowry Scott OBE.
Chief Fire & Rescue Officer Michael Graham (Interim) said:
“It was a pleasure to celebrate our annual Employee Awards and Long Service Medal ceremony at the Lagan Valley Island Centre. Day in, day out, our people work diligently to protect the community and it’s important that we take time to recognise and celebrate the individuals and teams across Northern Ireland who put ‘service’ before ‘self’.
“Every colleague receiving their Employee Award, or Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, has made an important contribution to our organisation and the service we provide to the public. As Chief Fire & Rescue Officer, it is my privilege to publically recognise them and to thank them for their dedicated years of service to NIFRS and their contribution to protecting our community.
“I believe that the service we provide is only as good as the people we have. At our ceremony we were able to recognise the contribution made to public safety by our exemplary Wholetime Firefighters, On-Call Firefighters, Regional Control Centre Colleagues and our Support Staff.”