Lex de Man received the Australian Fire Services Medal for his work in the Yarra region. 59540
By Mara Pattison-Sowden
Mr de Man, who resides in Mernda, was a pillar of strength who focused on leading the Yarra Area throughout a significantly turbulent period.
He said he was honoured to be awarded the Australian Fire Services Medal on Australia Day and attributed it to the fantastic effort of the CFA volunteers.
Mr de Man said the past two years leading the region and on an emotional level had been intense.
“I only got through it looking at what the volunteers were doing,” he said.
“They really charged my batteries to get in there and support the brigades and support the communities.
“Those events were certainly the worst I’ve seen throughout my career.”
Mr de Man has been a volunteer with the Country Fire Authority for 34 years, and a CFA employee for 15 years.
He was recently promoted to head an operational training and volunteerism role at the CFA headquarters, where he will work further on supporting the volunteers.
“You just have to look at the north-west (Victorian flood) events and see the volunteers and their work up there,” he said.
“I would like to think what we did through Black Saturday served as a template for what is now occurring in the rest of the state.”
