Celebrated NSW Rural Fire Services boss Shane Fitzsimmons is taking on a new role, heading up an agency aimed at ensuring the state’s resilience amid major challenges such as the coronavirus pandemic.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the establishment of Resilience NSW on Monday, saying it would ensure the state was prepared and able to respond to crises – “be it COVID, be it cyber security, be it a whole range of things we may not foreshadow”.
She said Mr Fitzsimmons – “one of the true heroes of NSW” – had decided to retire from his RFS position and would become the agency’s commissioner in about a month.
“Who would have thought that in 2020, NSW would be facing a pandemic?” Ms Berejiklian said.
“We don’t know the challenges of the future but what I do know is that NSW, through Resilience NSW, will be able to focus on preparing and recovering from anything that comes our way.”
Mr Fitzsimmons, 51, has been widely praised for his leadership during the horror bushfire season that has just ended.
He joined the RFS in 1985 and held several senior roles before being appointed commissioner in 2008.
Emergency Services Minister David Elliott thanked him on Monday for his service.
“I don’t think there’s a single person who would disagree that Commissioner Fitzsimmons’ leadership was a beacon of hope during our State’s darkest hour,” Mr Elliott said.
He said Rob Rogers would take over the role of NSW RFS commissioner, after 40 years as a member and nine years as deputy commissioner.
-AAP
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