Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service celebrates outstanding individuals at Recognition Awards

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) has officially recognised colleagues for their dedication, courage and professionalism at their latest Recognition Awards events.

Held on Wednesday, 8 April and Thursday, 9 April at GMFRS’s Training and Safety Centre in Bury, a remarkable total of 43 individuals, made up of both operational colleagues and support staff, partner organisations, and members of the public were nominated for an award either as a team or individuals. 

More than 120 guests were also joined by representatives of the King, His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Greater Manchester, Diane Hawkins JP LLB and the Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester, David Catterall DL as well as GMFRS’ Chief Fire Officer, Dave Russel.

The awards featured two categories: the Certificate of Outstanding Performance, and the prestigious Chief Fire Officer’s Commendation. With 10 remarkable nominations, underlining the dedication displayed across all boroughs of Greater Manchester. 

The wide range of award recipients covered a variety of scenarios, incidents and actions: 

• Multiple operational colleagues recognised for their impressive leadership and effective teamwork to contain a fire to a single room during a significant fire at a large school with an intricate and complex internal layout.  
• Dedicated charity work from Michael Addison who committed many hours of personal time, working outside of his usual role, to coordinate our Service’s involvement with the charity ‘Mission Christmas’.  
• One team’s impressive professionalism and effective teamwork to rescue a man from the water despite many members of the crew having less than 12 months’ service.  
• 50 years of dedicated charity work from Heather Butler to support the Fire Fighters Charity.  
• Mentorship and support from Janet Gibson to go above and beyond to share her skills, high standards and knowledge to help other colleagues thrive.  
• Operational colleagues recognised for their quick thinking, sound operational judgement and life-saving actions to rescue a woman from the water whilst managing another serious incident concurrently.  
• Life-saving actions to administer CPR for over 20 minutes from Terry Dean after he came across a collapsed man at the side of the road.  
• Compassion, bravery and quick thinking demonstrated by Oliver De-La-Rue whilst off duty to rescue a mother and child during a domestic incident.  
• Bravery, effective communication and life-saving actions across colleagues, partner organisations and members of the public to rescue 15 vulnerable elderly adults from a fire at a care home late at night.  
• Outstanding act of bravery and lifesaving actions which saw two members of the public come together to help save their neighbours from a significant house fire. 

GMFRS Chief Fire Officer Dave Russel said:

“Events like this are an amazing opportunity to recognise not just exceptional performance, but the dedication, professionalism and values that underpin everything we do.  

“These awards celebrate the very best of what we do together, they are about recognising the people who make a real difference to our service and our communities – not only our colleagues, but also our partners and members of the public who go above and beyond.

 “It’s a privilege to celebrate these achievements and we hope these awards will inspire others to continue our mission of saving lives, protecting our community and working together.”