Mr Paul McGill, MNZM, for services to Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Mr Paul McGill, MNZM, for services to Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
Paul McGill retired in 2019 after 39 years of employment with the New Zealand Fire Service and Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ). His positions included Firefighter, Senior Station Officer, Area Chief Fire Officer, Fire Region Manager, Director of Operations and Training, Deputy National Commander and Acting Chief Executive. He was National Commander Urban, the highest-ranking firefighter position in New Zealand, from 2017. He has significantly increased the effectiveness of FENZ’s operations. Following the Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes, he joined firefighter crews for several evenings, in addition to managing and coordinating the national response during the day. He helped establish the New Zealand Urban Search and Rescue teams. Mr McGill has worked with St John on joint training, sharing facilities, and introducing first responder and co-responder schemes.