Boronia CFA Captain Ramon Relph was awarded an Individual Award at the 2022 Spirit of CFA wards for his commitment to diversity and inclusiveness at the brigade.
Mr Relph received the award for Excellence in Innovation, which celebrates “CFA members who lead transformational change in our services, systems, governance and processes to improve service delivery outcomes, meeting organisational and community needs now and into the future.”
He said he didn’t find out he was winning the award until the event on Sunday 17 July.
“Actually winning the award was brilliant. It was very much a shock,” he said.
“A number of awards were given out on the night for volunteers, and family members were in attendance to see some recognised for their work.”
Mr Relph said despite being an individual award, he couldn’t have done it without the rest of the brigade.
“The type of brigade and membership I have is very diverse with different nationalities, different age groups from different walks of life,” he said.
“It was more for the whole of the brigade and the way they look after each other, look out for each other and support each other.”
Boronia CFA is located at 300 Boronia Road and was founded in 1942. The Brigade has four operational vehicles and over 80 staff, volunteers, auxiliary and junior members. It responds to over 1000 call-outs each year.
Mr Relph said as the volunteers in CFA don’t do it for recognition.
“It was a privilege to be recognised and honoured with the award for the work we do at Boronia.” He said.
