A firefighter who lost his home and everything inside it earlier this year has had one of his treasured possessions replaced by Fire and Rescue NSW.
Senior firefighter Steve Cox was working out of a fire station at Kurri Kurri on October 16 when neighbours rang him to warn a wall of flames was bearing down on his Girvan home.
He raced home as his wife, and their dogs drove through the flames to escape – there was nothing Steve could do to save his home but he jumped in a firetruck and saved the homes around his.
60-year-old Steve lost all of his possessions in the fire including a dozen treasured Holden cars he’d spent years restoring and his Fire and Rescue NSW service medals.
With Lyne, and mother Barbara, the 33-year firefighting veteran was recently summoned back to his Mayfield West Fire Station posting to receive replacement service medals by FRNSW Commissioner, Jeremy Fewtrell.
“Steve is the epitome of a selfless firefighter,
“To disregard the destruction of everything you own to help others takes a special kind of person.
“We are very proud of Steve’s courage and dedication to duty. We leapt at the chance to help him on behalf of the community and his colleagues.”
Some of those colleagues were also on hand today to see the medal replacement.
“I’m very proud to receive this gesture,” Steve said.
“We’ll go onto rebuild our lives but I never thought I’d see the likes of my fire medals again.”