Joff van Ek is a Station Officer with the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB), and he has a passion for road accident rescue.  He began his career as an operations centre officer with the South Australian Country Fire Service in 2003. Whilst in that role he had his first glimpse of emergency management, emergency call taking, appliance and firefighting aircraft dispatch. In 2007 Joff moved to Melbourne and became a firefighter with the MFB in 2007.

Station Officer Joff Van Ek

Joff is a technical assessor and trainer with the Australasian Road Rescue Organisation (ARRO). In addition, he is a guest lecturer for paramedical studies at Victoria University and practical presenter for the Holmatro Rescue experiences delivering rescue and medical training across all fire and rescue services in Australia.

In 2015/16 Joff was seconded to the Country Fire Authority. During this time he worked with CFA firefighters to promote interoperability between Victoria’s fire services. Having returned to the MFB in 2017 and promoted to Station Officer, he is now furthering his education by enrolling in the Bachelor of Emergency Management with Charles Sturt University.

Most of all Joff is passionate in promoting the work of firefighters and ensuring that they strive to maintain a high level of knowledge, training and innovation.Emergency Foundation Scholarship - Rapid Rescue TechniquesIn 2011 Joff completed an Emergency Services Foundation Scholarship studying the topic of “Rapid Extrication of time critical patients involved in vehicle accidents". The Scholarship saw Joff research worldwide best practices for road rescue extrication. As a result, he travelled to Europe where he found many countries who are world leaders in road accident rescue innovation. During the tour, Joff visited a number of countries including Norway where he learnt about rapid extrication techniques.

Joff Van EkConnect with JoffJoff is a moderator for the Facebook pages Extrication Matters and Fireground matters which encourage the sharing of knowledge and experience with those in the emergency management sector. You can connect with him on LinkedIn or on Instagram @therescuefireman.Ask your questions or share your feedback

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