By 20, after three years in the force in Sydney, the young officer decided to become a firefighter. 

Over the past 25 years Mr Freedom has worked across Western Sydney, was made station officer in 2007, and now, as of last week, the Fire and Rescue Superintendent and Region South 2 Commander. 

“I thoroughly enjoyed my three years in the force but I saw something in the fire brigade that appealed to me,” he said. “I love the idea of serving people and unfortunately during the role of a police officer you spend  a lot of time engaging in not so glamorous activities.” 

Over the next few weeks, the superintendent will conduct a listening tour across the 17 stations in his jurisdiction. During this time he will get to know the firefighters, hear about their families and why they chose the job. In turn, he will speak to staff about his expectations and goals.

“What I need my team stations to do is to focus on response, community education and tailoring their service to provide the needs of the local community, my job is to support them to do that,” he said.

“I have come in a zone that is very well managed, I’m also lucky because I have a really good team of station commanders. Some of the changes I want to see, and it’s nothing radical, are to re instill pride in our station if that may have slipped.

“As we go forward I want to see greater inclusion of women, minority groups, religious groups and our indigenous people – it’s  important to bring those people into the fold.”