Steve Grant’s dedication to protect the community during some of the state’s most devastating bushfires, has been recognised with the highest fire service medal in the country.
One of the state’s most experienced fire officers, Steve was awarded the Australian Fire Service Medal (AFSM) as part of the 2024 Australia Day Honours.
After graduating from the Creswick School of Forestry, Steve has contributed nearly four decades to forest firefighting, and the broader emergency management sector.
Forest Fire Management Victoria Chief Fire Officer, Chris Hardman, said Steve made a significant contribution as an operational firefighter, before using his knowledge and experience in senior fire management roles.
One of his most significant contributions has been leading the development and delivery of incident controllers across the state.
“His commitment to sharing his knowledge and practical experience has played an integral role in educating firefighters to become incident controllers,” Chris said.
“Steve’s contribution to the ongoing training, support and mentoring of young incident controllers is critical to keeping communities safe into the future.
He also played a key role in developing award-winning online training that ensured incident controllers could continue vital training during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Steve has held several emergency management roles including operational firefighter, Air Attack Supervisor, Level 3 Incident Controller, Hume Regional Controller and State Agency Commander.
Congratulations Steve on your Australian Fire Service Medal.
