Our enrolment and student portal is undergoing an important upgrade and will be unavailable from 8:00am until 5:00pm on Saturday, 26 Sept 2026.
Skip to main content![alt=""]()
- Go to homepage
- About
- Media
- Emergency management student helps rebuild lives after bushfires
Media Release
TAFE NSW | 7 September 2026
Emergency management student helps rebuild lives after bushfires
’I’m so passionate about my job. Every conversation you have is an opportunity to improve knowledge and awareness of fires and potentially save lives.’
Tammy Garrett, Community Safety Manager
Tammy Garrett is a frontline worker who’s helping communities prepare for and respond to bushfires. She’s credited TAFE NSW with giving her the skills to better protect lives and work with partner agencies.
Tammy Garrett is a Community Safety Manager for the Country Fire Authority (CFA) in North East Victoria. She’s been working in community preparedness and resilience since shortly after the devastating 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, which killed 173 people and destroyed over 2000 homes.
Discovering a passion for helping communities prepare for and recover after bushfires, she enrolled in an Advanced Diploma of Public Safety (Emergency Management) at the TAFE NSW National Centre for Emergency Management Studies(NCEMS).
NCEMS is Australia's leading provider of vocational education and training for the emergency management sector.
Tammy said the course helped build her practical skills and knowledge. She was able to draw on her new skills when helping the initial recovery phase after the January 2026 Longwood fires.
“I had only recently done the recovery unit in the TAFE NSW course so it was fresh in my memory and it was really beneficial,” Ms Garrett said.
“I’m so passionate about my job. Every conversation you have is an opportunity to improve knowledge and awareness of fires and potentially save lives.”
As Australia experiences more frequent and complex disasters, the National Emergency Management Agency says stronger emergency management capability is needed to help organisations prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies.
The Advanced Diploma of Public Safety (Emergency Management) allows students to complete much of the course at their own pace online. It includes a weekly online class and occasional face-to-face workshops at NCEMS in Wollongong.
“The online study really suited me as I have a family and a very hectic schedule,” Tammy said. “To be able to study at a time that suited me and actually contextualise the content to my role was really helpful.”
NCEMS trainer Tanya Eade-Smith said the centre was helping build Australia's emergency management capability by providing flexible, industry-led training for students across the country.
"Emergency management is a rapidly evolving profession. It's critical our students learn from teachers who are actively working in the sector and understand the challenges organisations are facing today,” she said.
"Our flexible online delivery enables students from across Australia to fit study around their work and personal commitments, while still gaining the practical, job-ready skills and nationally recognised qualifications employers are looking for.
"Whether graduates are supporting major infrastructure projects, local councils, emergency services or private industry, they're developing the skills to help organisations prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies."
Media contact: Dan Johns, TAFE NSW Communications Specialist, 02 7920 5000.
Get inspired
Keep up to date with what’s happening at TAFE NSW by reading more stories.