Chris Widmer

Facilitator (Trainer / Assessor)

Chris has over 42 years of experience in the emergency services industry. He began his career in early 1978, as a State Emergency Service (SES) volunteer and is the current Local Manager of the Bunbury SES Unit. His background is in emergency risk management, with post graduate qualifications in applied management and leadership, in addition to undergraduate qualifications in training and assessment, business management, leadership and emergency risk management.

CAREER PROFILE

Chris spent 7 years with TAFE as a lecturer and curriculum developer, for customised training programs. These were tailored for industrial customers as part of TAFE’s ‘self-supporting’, fee-for service programs.

His paid employment in the emergency services sector began in 1996, when Chris started working for the then Bush Fires Board, as the South West Regional Training Officer. In 1999, he was promoted to Regional Manager for the South West Region. When FESA was formed, Chris was promoted to the rank of District Officer, within the FESA Fire Services. He also spent two years on secondment to the FESA CEO, to establish the CEMO (now Office of Emergency Management District Advisors) program.

Chris’ Incident Management Skills have been used locally and with deployments to significant National emergencies including New South Wales (on several occasions) and throughout Western Australia. He has been an endorsed ‘Incident Controller’ for Level 3 (highest of three levels) fires and natural hazard emergencies, with extensive experience in managing significant emergency events.

In 2013, Chris left the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, to become the City of Bunbury’s Team Leader for Community Safety and Emergency Management, where his focus in on local community-centred Emergency Risk Management. After the completion of that five-year contract, Chris elected to semi-retire, concentrating on his consultancy business ‘Plan-it WA Consulting’. Through that business he has been contracting his services to the City of Bunbury and other Local Governments, WALGA, the mining industry and DFES, amongst others. His work has been on business improvement activities, corporate emergency and business risk management, training and development, along with leadership training and mentoring programs.

In 2001 Chris was awarded the He is also the recipient of the Peter Keillor Award, a prestigious award for services to the SES in Western Australia, for his efforts in volunteer training and development. He has also received the DFES Diligent Services Medal, SES Long Service Medal and the National Medal for Service, with clasps.