Craig Grassick, facilities manager at AIS Survivex, has been rewarded for 20 years of courage, dedication, and selflessness as a retained firefighter with Ellon Community Fire Station at a glittering ceremony at Aberdeen’s Town House recently.
Aberdeen-born Craig received a 20-years-of-service medal, which was presented by Interim Chief Office Ross Haggart in front of fellow firefighters from across Aberdeenshire, to mark this astonishing milestone.
Craig joined Ellon Community Fire Station in 2002 and spent the next 15 years as a professional firefighter before becoming an instructor at AIS Survivex five years ago.
Craig is now our facilities manager, overseeing the extensive portfolio of fire courses at AIS Survivex in Aberdeen, but outside of his day job continues to work for the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service as a retained firefighter.
In his firefighting role, Craig has dealt with everything from answering fire alarms and fighting major industrial fires to assisting with road traffic accidents and even cliched cat rescues over the past two decades.
This can impact family life. Craig missed his daughter’s first birthday party after being called out to fight a forest fire and one Christmas morning the family had to wait patiently for him to return before going downstairs to check if Santa had been.
Craig explains why he does it:
“Giving back to the local community is important to me so being able to serve and protect local people through firefighting is hugely satisfying.
“We undertake continuous training within the Fire & Rescue Service and this also helps me in my role at AIS Survivex. As well as continuous professional development for myself, it means I can share the very latest practices with the rest of the team to ensure we remain ahead of the game.
“I’m hugely honoured to receive this award from Scottish Fire & Rescue Service and want to thank both my family and AIS Survivex for supporting me. Without their generous backup, I wouldn’t be able to give up my valuable time to do something I love.”
Craig isn’t the only member of the AIS Survivex team to give something back. Instructors Stuart Batty and Chris Wilson are also retained firefighters in their spare time and the remainder of the team are either current or retired firefighters.
Want to learn how to become an ace firefighter like Craig?
Browse the wide range of firefighting courses available at AIS Survivex
