There are 70,000 volunteers in the NSW RFS and Kurrajong Heights Brigade’s Phil Hurst was one of only nine awarded the Australian Fire Service Medal as part of the 2025 King’s Birthday Honours List.
Phil has been an integral part of our Brigade for a long time, joining the Brigade in 1981. He has been Group Captain continuously since 2012 and other aspects of his service are included in the citation below.
Phil’s awards include the 40 Year Long Service Medal, The National Emergency Medal and the National Medal with 3 bars. What a service record!
Phil is in the centre in the tanker. Group photo taken for the 70 year history of the Brigade:
‘Good Fire Bad Fire‘
The citation states:
Deputy Group Captain Philip Hurst, Kurrajong Heights Brigade (Hawkesbury)
Philip Hurst joined Kurrajong Heights Brigade in 1981. He served as senior deputy captain for 11 years from 2003 to 2014, was the brigade treasurer for 25 years and has been a permit officer since 2004. Mr Hurst has been an integral part of the Hawkesbury District’s Learning and Development Team for many years, contributing to various operational training courses. He is the coordinator of the district’s School Cadet Program, with many cadets going on to join brigades as firefighters.
In 2012, he was appointed as a deputy group captain in the Hawkesbury District. Philip has led numerous operational deployments across the state and interstate. He has attended major fires within the Hawkesbury District, and numerous incidents, including more than 18 Section 44 emergency fires and many local, daily incidents. He serves as an operations officer during local major fire campaigns and as an operations and divisional commander for regular flooding events.
During the 2019/20 Black Summer bush fires, Philip played an integral role in the Gospers Mountain and Three Mile fires as a divisional commander, risking his life during the many days of unprecedented extreme fire behaviour. Philip’s staunch dedication and commitment to the RFS and his contributions to his brigade are extensive. He is well-respected in the local community and highly regarded in the RFS community.
We’ve chosen a few photos of Phil taken over the last couple of years that show the variety of his life in the RFS:
Phil is second on the right at a working bee in 2023 when we received our new Cat 1 Tanker and
had a short time to transfer everything from the old one.
The pics above and below feature Phil’s work with the cadets … a future source of RFS volunteers.
Below is the class of 2022 and Phil is second from the right.
Phil started the program in 2010 and this year there are 90 cadets enrolled across 5 schools.
Phil is on the right doing the planning for a Hazard Reduction Burn with then
Captain Brian Williams and his daughter Kylee.
Phil is a dab hand with a chainsaw
Phil in ‘yellows’ at a Brigade training event
Congratulations Phil!!!
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