THE Rural Fire Service (RFS) has been protecting communities from dangerous situations for years, and many of their local members were recently honoured for their commitment to the organisation.
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Members of brigades throughout the Liverpool Plains were awarded for long service, ranging from 14 to 65 years.
Peter Blake was the longest serving volunteer, although Don Gardner wasn't far behind having joined 64 years ago.
In total, 24 people from the Upper Hunter were given recognition for their work down the years.
Neville Cameron, Gordon Pike, John Teague, Neville Hayne and Angela and Tony Caslick were the other honoured guests to accept medals for giving five decades or more to the RFS.
The latter four of those have served the Moonan Flat or Moonan brigades, and they were far from alone in that category.
Helen Teague (31 years), Greg Scott (40 years), captain Richard Bell (42 years) and Paula and Max Hayne (45 years) have also donated much of their time to the district.
Awards were also given to Darrell Hunter (Kingdon Ponds), Mike Birmingham (Parkville), Bernard Levy (Gundy), captain Ian Hayes (Gundy), Brian Field (Blanford), senior deputy captain Stuart Jack (Dartbrook), Terrance Holland (Stewarts Brook), Maurice Collison (Stewarts Brook), Lorraine Gardiner (Dangarfield) and Peter Cumming (Rouchel), who have a combined service time of 295 years.
No RFS members do what they do for individual praise, but internally and externally they are certainly appreciated.
