Stephen Sewell appointed the Northern Territory Fire and Emergency Services' new chief fire officer
The Northern Territory Fire and Emergency Services’ acting chief fire officer has been permanently appointed to the top job, bringing much needed stability to the force. Find out who it is.
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The Northern Territory Fire and Emergency Services’ (NTFES) acting chief fire officer has been permanently appointed to the top job, bringing much needed stability to the service.
Following an extensive merit-based selection process that saw a series of interviews and selection panels, Stephen Sewell, who had been acting in the role of chief fire officer for the past 12 months, was officially appointed the permanent chief fire officer on Friday.
Before securing the top job, Mr Sewell served in various regiments of the Australian Army since 1989 before joining the Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service in 2009.
In 2020, Mr Sewell served as an assistant fire chief for six months before being appointed the deputy chief fire officer that same year.
Mr Sewell has also been recognised for his service with several prestigious awards, including the Australian Fire Service Medal and medals for his deployments, such as the International Force East Timor Medal, the Afghanistan Medal, and the Iraq Medal.
Mr Sewell said he hoped his appointment would bring stability to the service.
“I hope it provides the stability for the fire service to have a new chief fire officer and one of my top priorities starting today will be to recruit deputy fire officers and then we’ll look at the growth that is need so we can provide the service to the community,” he said.
“I’d like to give back for my time and investment that everyone else put into me over the years.”
It was an honour to be appointed to the new position, Mr Sewell said.
“It is a tremendous honour … and I am committed to ensuring the NT Fire and Rescue Service continues to serve the community with the highest standards of professionalism, preparedness and safety,” he said.
“My focus will be on maintaining the safety of our communities, supporting our dedicated firefighters, and further strengthening our operation capabilities to respond to emergencies across the Territory.”
In his new position, Mr Sewell said enhancing the capability of the service was a top priority.
“I’ve been very focused on building community resilience and enhancing what we do and the capability of NTFRS,” he said.
“We’ve just developed a strategic plan for the agency for NTFES and that’s been publicised now.
“We’ve gone through the last 12 months consulting with our leaders of each of our commands to prioritise what our values are as a service and to also come up with our own strategic goals and everything we're going to do as new agency.”
Mr Sewell said NTFES and NTFRS would always be ready to help on national and international missions.
“We definitely put our hands up to reciprocate,” he said.
“There’s a shortage of firefighters nationally … and internationally.”
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