CFA is at the heart of John Schauble’s commitment to community service.
This week the long and varied contribution of the Sassafras-Ferny Creek Fire Brigade member to fire and emergency management in Victoria was recognised through the award of the CFA Outstanding Service Medal.
The presentation was made by Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO) David Renkin at a special function held at the fire station. The Outstanding Service Medal is CFA’s most prestigious award, outside of bravery awards.
It recognises prolonged and exceptional service by a CFA member. Medal recipients are acknowledged for having given meritorious and committed service across a broad range of activities over a significant period and to have shown outstanding leadership in the encouragement and development of others within CFA for the long-term benefit of the fire services and community.
John’s service has included operational and non-operational roles at brigade, district, state and national levels as a volunteer and in a professional capacity. His practical and intellectual leadership in fire safety and management is widely acknowledged.
ACFO Renkin said John has been recognised with this award for his outstanding leadership, his dedication to his brigade over a long, long period and his functional roles in the emergency management space at state level.
“He is exceptionally calm in the heat of the moment, he provides a level-headed approach to all of the scenarios he has been faced with,” he said.
Joining the Sassafras-Ferny Creek CFA brigade as a junior member in 1973, he moved to the senior ranks in 1975. In 1977, he left the district to pursue studies and work, returning to live in the Dandenongs permanently in 1985. He rejoined the brigade and, apart from a two-year leave of absence working overseas, has remained a highly active volunteer member since then.
At brigade level he has served in leadership roles for more than 30 years; as Captain from 2006 to 2014, Lieutenant from 1990 to 1999, 2002 to 2006 and from 2019 to present, Secretary from 1986 to 1988 and Brigade President from 2014 to present.
John has been a delegate to the Dandenong Ranges Fire Brigades Group and to the Municipal Fire Prevention Committee and its executive committee. In 1992, he wrote a short history of the brigade, Hills of Fire.
Significant operational deployments have included the 1997 Dandenong Ranges bushfires, the 2009 Victorian bushfires and the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires, both as a firefighter and as member of incident management teams.
At brigade, district and state levels, John has made a significant contribution to CFA’s community safety efforts over the past 25 years as a program presenter. As a qualified instructor, John contributes to the delivery of recruiter firefighter training courses in the Dandenong Ranges. He has been a regular presenter at Officer Development Programs, and is a mentor in the CFA District 13 Captains peer mentor program.
Beyond CFA, his involvement in fire safety, policy and management has been considerable. During a lengthy career as a journalist with the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, John wrote extensively about bushfires and other emergency management issues. He was commissioned to write The Australian Bushfire Safety Guide for HarperCollins in 2004.
In 2008, he completed a Master of Arts by research in the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Melbourne that examined cultural influences on community perceptions of bushfire. He continues to write about bushfire history and culture.
John joined the Victorian Public Service in 2007, leading to senior research and policy roles in the emergency management field. At Emergency Management Victoria, he became Victoria’s representative on the national body that developed the new Australian Fire Danger Ratings System. He also performed senior functional roles at the Victorian State Control Centre. He later worked on the 2019-20 Victorian Bushfires Inquiry and two subsequent emergency management reviews for the Inspector-General for Emergency Management.
In all of these roles, he has brought to the table the invaluable learnings and lived experience of a senior CFA volunteer. The breadth of John’s contribution to changing the way the Australian community understands and acts in relation to fire is rooted in his wide ranging, ‘ground up’ service to CFA.
