FIRE fighters from around East Cambridgeshire were rewarded for their dedication, commitment and outstanding service at a Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service awards evening.

Crew commander at Ely fire station, Brett Mills, was presented with a long service and good conduct medal for completing more than 20 years of service by the Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, Hugh Duberly.

Retired firefighter Stephen Jarvis from Soham, won a Chairman’s Award for having completed more than 25 years service before he left the service.

The Ely day crew won an Excellence in Community Safety Award, for their contribution to the East Cambs Community Safety Partnership, under the leadership of Brett Mills.

Sutton Fire Station won a Team Achievement Award, for running the most successful retained recruitment campaign ever seen by the service, which was described as “a huge achievement for a small retained station.”

The awards evening, held at the Marriott Hotel in Huntingdon, was hosted by Chief Fire Officer Graham Stagg, and BBC Look East presenter Janine Machin.

After the ceremony, Mr Stagg thanked sponsors of the evening, and said the service had debated “long and hard” about whether it was appropriate to hold the awards evening, while budget cuts are “very much dominating everything we do.”

But, he said: “It is all the more important to recognise good work of staff during hard times. And after reading all the nominations for the awards, I know we made the right decision, as there were some excellent examples of people going above and beyond, despite the change and uncertainty that have been going on in the background.”