Mr Harker, who is also the officer in charge at the Portland CFA brigade, has served with the CFA for more than 44 years as both a volunteer and a career staff member. 

His citation said his technical competence and leadership at brigade, group, district and incident level were highly regarded.

Mr Harker said he enjoyed working with both volunteers and career firefighters.

“I enjoy the people I work with right through the organisation,” he said. 

Mr Harker said the CFA had evolved “big time” during his 44 years, with a dramatic increase in resources such as firefighting aircraft.

However, he said he was a great believer in mentoring and training firefighters to give them the capabilities to perform effectively at fires.

Mr Harker has also distinguished himself through his innovative and pragmatic approach to problem solving, particularly with regard to fire suppression methods and strategies in the coal industry and the use of Class A foam. 

As a firefighter in Morwell in 1990-1996, he experimented with the use of Class A foam to achieve effective fire suppression at coal fires and in power stations. 

His knowledge and expertise in this field were called on during last year’s Hazelwood Mine Fire where he took a lead role in developing and implementing the successful suppression strategy. Mr Harker, 60, has fought in the major fires that have hit Victoria in the past 40 years including the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires and the 2009 Black Saturday fires.

In the Black Saturday fires, he worked for 24 consecutive days helping co-ordinate the firefighting effort from the Caterton headquarters.