Richard Edward COSSTICK

Richard joined the Devonport Fire Brigade in January 1990 after moving to Tasmania from Victoria. Richard served as a volunteer in the Country Fire Authority from 1980 until 1989 with the Melton Fire Brigade, a very busy all volunteer brigade covering a large population situated on the outskirts of the Melbourne metropolitan area. During his 33 years’ service with the Tasmania Fire Service, he has attended emergency calls numbering in the thousands. He has also been on both interstate and intrastate deployments during major fires in this period. He has always made himself available to attend as many brigade activities as possible and has the respect of his fellow volunteers and the permanent staff of the Devonport brigade. Richard holds the National medal with 25, 35 and 45 year clasps. As well as his work with the Devonport brigade he has been active in many other areas of the Fire Service. Richard was the North West Regional Secretary of the Tasmania Retained Volunteer Fire Fighters Association for 22 years. Richard was also the Tasmania Retained Volunteer Fire Fighters Association representative on the Volunteer Training Advisory Committee for several years. For this service he was awarded life membership in 2015, this honour is very rare, and Richard is one of only two others to receive life membership. The Tasmanian Retained Volunteer Association is an organization which looks after the interests of its members by having representation on the State Fire Commission as well as members on most Committees within the Fire Service, and play an important role within the organisation. Richard has also been active in the competition side of the Fire Service and is a member of the Tasmanian Fire Brigades Competition Association, an association that oversees the Tasmanian Fire Brigades Championships. Richard started with the association in 1990 and was assistant coach of the Devonport U14 and U17 juniors. He also served as a track official as well as being involved in the executive of the association. Richard has held almost every track position ranging from Judge to Deputy Track Master and has also served as President, Vice President and Treasurer of this organization. He was part of the Committee that oversaw the amalgamation of the Urban and Rural Fire Competitions and has served as Treasurer and Chief timekeeper of the new combined association, he continues his service with the competition’s association to this day. For his work with the competitions Richard was awarded Life Membership in 2020. Since 1997, Richard has been a volunteer training instructor. This role is an important one as training of volunteers is an ongoing need given the rapid changes in technology and practices of the fire service. Richard has the qualifications, knowledge, skill and experience needed to instruct volunteers in all the necessary courses required for a volunteer fire fighter in Tasmania. During the autumn and winter months regular training courses are held at the regional training centres and on site at Brigades to ensure the latest practices are passed on to the Volunteer Brigades. Training is an important and essential part of the fire service and Richard has always been to the fore whenever instructors are required. As most training is done at night and at weekends Richard devotes a large amount of his time to this important task. To sum up, Richard Cosstick is everything a volunteer should be, someone who gives excellent service to his community and his fellow volunteers, he is knowledgeable and experienced in all aspects of firefighting practice and is involved in many extracurricular activities as part of his service with the Tasmania Fire Service. He always gives 100% and is a most deserving volunteer