The Clarence and Richmond Valleys will be even better protected against fires this summer with the arrival of seven new firefighters fresh from the latest graduation at Fire and Rescue NSW and the awarding of a prestigious scholarship to a young volunteer from Rappville, according to Clarence Nationals MP Chris Gulaptis.

“This is great news for the Clarence and Richmond Valleys and on behalf of all locals I welcome and thank the new recruits,” Mr Gulaptis said.

Leigh Allen, Riley Farrell, Michael Faulkner and Joshua Fuller will serve at Casino, Luke Gooley at Coraki, Kieran O’Reilly at Evans Head and Joshua Arndell at Maclean.

In further good news, at the NSW Rotary Emergency Services Community Awards, Rappville Brigade’s Theodore Scholl was announced as the NSW winner of the Dorothy Hennessy OAM Emergency Services Youth Scholarship.

Mr Gulaptis said the Nationals in NSW Government were working hard to avoid a repeat of the terrible damage from last year’s Black Summer.

The NSW Government recently announced a $192 million investment in response to the independent NSW Bushfire Inquiry, including new FRNSW tankers and personal protective clothing.

FRNSW Commissioner Paul Baxter said the graduates have trained with passion and dedication to become part of the FRNSW family.

“These recruits have shown they have the diverse skills, capabilities and talents required to undertake the varied work that our firefighters do – from educating the community about fire safety and providing emergency medical care to responding to fires, natural disasters and hazmat incident,” Commissioner Baxter said.