Supreme Innovation – winning big at AFAC

Published: 23/08/2023 | Achievements, Event, Risk reduction | National

Last night, Fire and Emergency's Kelley Toy and Adrian Nacey won two AFAC Awards for their innovative mahi, helping hāpori (communities) learn fire safety.

Over the last three years, Kelley, our Manager Marketing and Brand, and Adrian, our Manager Community Education and Behaviour Change, have been on a mission to make Aotearoa New Zealand homes safer by helping more people learn about fire safety. They saw our fire safety metrics idling and were compelled to act. Working together, they’ve used data, information, and research to better understand what makes different groups of people tick, with a focus on engaging with harder to reach groups.

It’s quite likely you’ve seen the results of their mahi. Campaigns such as You’re Cooked, Wildfire Readiness and Museum of Fires Past are all the result of their innovative approach to the information in front of them. Through data, we’re seeing that these campaigns are having the desired result and many of their campaigns have won awards because of the creative approach they’ve taken.

Last night was no exception. Kelley’s and Adrian’s mahi earned them the Knowledge Innovation Award at the AFAC Awards in Brisbane, part of the annual AFAC Conference. Nominations for this category were assessed on the advancement of knowledge, innovation, and research use the work has on the nominee’s agency and/or the wider emergency management sector.

To cap off the evening, Kelley and Adrian went on to win the Laurie Lavelle Achiever of the Year Award, the supreme award of the evening.

Laurie Lavelle, OAM, is a former Chief Fire Officer of the Melbourne and Metropolitan Fire Brigades and inaugural Chief Executive of AFAC. While he couldn’t present the awards in person, he chose Kelley and Adrian’s nomination as he felt it represents excellence in the sector. Rob Webb, Chief Executive AFAC, called the award the “Bledisloe Cup” of the AFAC Awards, mentioning that our Australian counterparts may have more chance of winning this one.

For the Aotearoa attendees looking on, it was a proud moment. As Kelley and Adrian accepted their award, the group sung a waiata to honour them and their achievements. Well done korua! We’re all proud of you and the mahi you do.

L to R: Piki Thomas, Deputy Chief Executive Kaupapa Māori and Cultural Communities' Adrian; Kelley; Carlene York, AFAC President; Dr Steph Rotarangi, Deputy Chief Executive, Service Delivery Design.