Tamworth district Rural Fire Service members given National Emergency Medal for Black Summer efforts

The horrors of the 2019-20 bushfire season have been well detailed, and it was RFS members more often than not at the frontline of those blazes, with local crews playing a key role in taking on fires at Armidale, Glen Innes and Shoalhaven.

On Saturday 187 staff and volunteers from the region were presented with their medals, and Chief Superintendent Jayson McKellar said they deserved every one of them.

"Today we recognise brigade members from across the region and thank them for their incredible contribution over the 2019-20 season," he said.

"Every single one of these members should be proud of themselves and their dedication to protecting communities across the state.

"They performed admirably during an incredibly difficult fire season and went above and beyond when deployed to other regions to help local brigades battle devastating blazes."

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RFS Tamworth District Manager Allyn Purkiss said it was a truly difficult couple of years for local crews.

He said while people often think about Black Summer and how bad it was, they sometimes forget the year before was also tough for the New England region.

"We'd been at it for a couple of years, because the drought had been nearly four years long by the time it [Black Summer] came around," he said.

"We'd had a really busy season during the 18-19 season as well so all our guys were absolutely tuckered out before we even went into the 2019-20 season.

"It was just amazing, they 150 per cent deserve any recognition they got because it was two years solid just fighting fires."

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