The Country Fire Authority’s north-west region welcomes new assistant chief officer Gavin Thompson this week.
Mr Thompson, initially, will be based in Melton. He will be responsible for service delivery and operations across a huge region covering the outer northern and western suburbs of Melbourne, out to Swan Hill and far north-western Victoria.
He says he’s looking forward to working with people in the region.
“The priority will be taking stock of where things are at and getting familiar with everything around the patch – it’s a big patch and largely new to me,” he said.
“Initially, I’ll be at Melton and after that I’ll be working from different locations around the region.
“It’s hot and it’s dry. The fire season started early for the north-west region and right now there’s no end in sight.
“The region is quite diverse; there are busy metro areas with large urban brigades, right through to smaller communities.
“I see it as imperative to support all our people in delivering services to their communities.”
Mr Thompson started as a junior in the CFA at Bayswater then volunteered as a senior at Boronia. As a career firefighter and then officer, he has been stationed at Shepparton, Patterson River, Dandenong and Falls Creek.
CFA chief officer Joe Buffone said Mr Thompson came to the role with extensive operational, strategy and policy experience.
“He brings strong leadership and strategic foresight along with an extensive understanding in establishing partnerships with other emergency management agencies,” Mr Buffone said.
Mr Thompson said his approach would be “evolution not revolution”.
“We need to remember that we are on a continuous journey and aiming for continuous improvement rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater and starting again,” he said.
“But while we can’t forget the past, we also can’t be too averse to change. We need to take the good things and build on them.
“At the end of the day, my priority is to see CFA people delivering CFA services.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s you or me, it’s about those services being delivered to the community.”
