Christine Welsh

To help her local community in the wake of the 2009 bushfires, Christine Welsh joined the Victorian State Emergency Service (VICSES) Seymour Unit. Christine was quickly promoted within the unit because of her strong leadership qualities, passion for rescue and special ability to bring people together in a team. For the past 8 years, Christine has been the unit controller and has built a strong unit and local emergency response, dedicating many hours to VICSES and the community.  

Christine encourages other VICSES members to believe they can achieve whatever they set out to. She is a strong role model for and supporter of women in the unit, throughout VICSES and the emergency services. Women make up over 50 per cent of the VICSES Seymour unit, they feature in the leadership team and play an important part in the success of the unit.

Christine is always the first to put her hand up when help is needed. As well as the local community response, she volunteers during large-scale emergencies. This includes five deployments for the 2020 fires in Victoria and Canberra, deployment to Western Australia for the 2021 cyclone, two deployments in 2022 to NSW for flooding, and countless deployments within Victoria including the recent Morwell storm disaster recovery. She also has a full-time job.

Christine’s leadership and drive to provide the best support to the community has seen her challenge and change the culture in emergency services. Through training and collaborating with local SES units, the Country Fire Authority, Ambulance Victoria, Victoria Police and other emergency responders, community relationships and partnerships are fostered and strengthened resulting in a stronger emergency response for the community. Christine’s vision is to ensure the very best emergency response for every incident, every time.