They are invited into the lives of Canberrans during their most frightening, vulnerable, and heartbreaking moments. They save lives, clear the wreckage, or offer a comforting word, only to drive away (often to the next crisis) and never find out what happened next.
On Thank a First Responder Day, June 10, we are turning the spotlight on 20 local heroes from across ACT's emergency and frontline services.
Scroll below to read about the first 10 people to feature on our list (in no particular order), and stay tuned for the next 10 in part two.
In simple words, Dr Ting is the person who doesn't look away when someone is fighting for their life.
"I'm there to steady the room, to guide the team, and to give that patient every chance we can. It's a role that demands everything you have, but it's also a privilege to be trusted with those moments," Dr Ting says.
So what goes through her mind when she's dealing with a patient in crisis?
"When I'm walking toward an emergency, there's a quiet shift inside me. I'm thinking clinically - running through possibilities, preparing for what I might find - but there's also a very human awareness that someone is terrified, someone is hurting, and they're waiting for us," Dr Ting says.
In those intense moments, her team becomes "almost like a single heartbeat", moving together, thinking together, and trusting each other completely.
"There's this special moment I've been carrying with me for a long time. A man died unexpectedly in our emergency department, and I had to call his wife to come back in. When she arrived, she took my hands and held on tightly. She didn't speak at first, she just stood there with me in that quiet, heartbreaking space," Dr Ting says.
"When she finally whispered 'thank you', it wasn't for saving him; it was for not letting her face that moment alone."
For ACT Rural Fire Service volunteer Jonathan Samara-Wickrama, the 2019-2020 bushfire season has remained etched in his memory.
In particular, a total fire ban day where his team of ACTRFS firefighters attended back-to-back incidents.
After extinguishing a deliberately lit fire on Tuggeranong Hill, the team was immediately needed at a nursing home where dozens of people from Tumut and Batlow regions had arrived in buses.
The firefighters helped elderly residents into the home, including lifting one person off the bus, before finishing up and heading to Erindale for lunch. On their way, the team saw an elderly lady next to a parked scooter on the side of the road suffering from a heatstroke and severe dehydration.
Mr Samara-Wickrama's team alerted the ACT Ambulance Services and moved the woman into some shade, gave her water, and began directing traffic in the area.
"When the ambulance arrived, they took over treatment of her and transport and we were released," he says.
"This day has stayed with me because while we are Rural Fire Service volunteers, we are often utilised outside of fire duties and still proceed to protect and care for the community we live in."
Laura Allardyce is one of the voices answering Canberrans' call for help, whether it's triple zero or 131 444.
She says some calls are distressing from the moment you pick up the phone, while others seem like any other run-of-the-mill conversation.
"Often people that are calling can be in a highly stressful situation so we are doing our best to navigate that as well as gathering as many details from them as we can," Ms Allardyce says.
Often it is the adrenaline from a call that drives her to relay information to officers on patrol within seconds, even before they arrive at a scene.
"Overall, the motivation is the same, which is to help whoever you are speaking to in the best way you can. This is what keeps me calm and very outcome-focused," she says.
One of the hardest parts of her role is conversations that leave her thinking after the call disconnects.
"Often not finding out the outcome after the call and hoping that the person you just spoke to ended up OK, although I do have full faith in our patrols attending that they are going to do their part to help that situation," Ms Allardyce says.
People often assume that the visual trauma is the hardest part of a paramedic's job, Beth Hore reveals it is frequently the auditory memories, the sounds of human grief, that linger the longest.
She recalls an early career case where the "anguished cries of a mother" left a permanent mark as Ms Hore treated the woman's critically ill loved one, illustrating how paramedics must balance intense clinical precision with empathy.
"Managing acute clinical needs while simultaneously acknowledging and responding to the distress of loved ones is a complex and often overlooked component of the profession ... sadly, these job types do not get easier with more exposure," the paramedic says.
Addressing the growing pressure on the ACT Ambulance Service, Ms Hore wishes the Canberrans better understood the reality behind response delays. She says the service is increasingly relied upon for general healthcare advice and reassurance, resources must be strictly triaged.
"When this happens, it is not a reflection of the importance of any one patient, but rather the necessity to allocate limited resources where they are most urgently required," she says.
ACT Ambulance Service's Andrew Clifford often balances high-level, pre-hospital care with on-scene leadership.
During a crisis, he steps into the role of acting duty commander, coordinating ambulance resources while working with police and firefighters
"Once on scene, what keeps me focused, is that I know that there are others, whether they be colleagues, community members or other emergency services, that are relying on me to perform the best I can at that moment and I want to be at my best for them," Mr Clifford says
He too notes the "complete lack of closure" once a patient is handed over to the hospital.
"We are often left out of the rest of the journey of the patient's, hopefully, road to recovery. Sometimes that can be hard because you are just left wondering."
Over his distinguished career, Clifford has received various honours including an ACT Health Collaboration achievement award for his work with the police, ambulance, clinician early response (PACER) team, and a collective ACT Citizen of the Year award for serving on the frontlines during the COVID pandemic.
As one of two team leaders of ACT Policing's Major Collision Team, Detective Sergeant Turkich oversees crash investigations where someone is seriously injured or has died.
As the "conduit" between investigators, police who were first on scene, the coroner's team, and ACT Road Policing, he is in charge of resources and planning during the immediate aftermath of a crash and the subsequent investigation.
"When I get to scene, I take a moment to stop, pull my diary out and make a note of the weather and road conditions before I approach the officer in charge of the scene," he says.
"This allows me to take a breath and focus in on the job at hand. I know once I arrive that I'm going to be very busy for some time."
He says the people whose lives are changed forever after a crash often share the same goals as police and what Canberrans expect.
"To see the gamut of emotions across a wide demographic of people and what they experience throughout the investigation. The grief, the shock, the anger, the frustrations, the reflection, it's what makes us all human, no matter where you came from. It hits similar," he says.
He adds: "People will often speak to how hard my role is, however, what they don't see is how fulfilling it is."
"The satisfaction really comes from solving the whys and bringing people affected by road trauma the answers they want. It is unfortunate that sometimes the people that can tell us what happened are no longer with us, that is the hardest part."
While frontline responders manage physical emergencies, Chamal Perera fights a silent battle behind a screen to ensure the ACT Emergency Services Agency's critical software never fails.
He is responsible for the government and operational software applications that track emergency resources and broadcast life-saving public warnings.
Under the intense pressure, technical officers like him must diagnose and resolve complex technical issues and cyber threats instantly.
This heavy lifting often goes unnoticed by the public they work to protect.
"Almost all the time, we, as technical officers, are hidden and working behind the scenes and normally the face of us are the software applications that we manage."
Managing emergency network infrastructure is highly intricate, far exceeding everyday IT troubleshooting, according to Mr Perera.
"The amount of technicality and the complexity of the software applications in the emergency services world are immense - it is not always simple as 'Have you tried turning it off and on again?' - which sometimes also works," he says.
Leanne Billington recalls a particularly vivid memory of a midnight vehicle rollover on a pitch-black country road, where she had to guide the pilot through a tight, hazardous landing before pivoting immediately to help the medical team extricate the patient.
Months later, a letter arrived revealing the patient had successfully learned to walk again.
"The smell of the paddock and the number of people working together in the dark in the middle of the night to achieve that mission and to have a good outcome, that's what stays with me!"
As the helibase manager at Toll SouthCare Rescue in Hume, Ms Billington's mission is all about safety, precision, and survival.
She is responsible for supporting the helicopter pilot to maintain safe aircraft operations while managing complex winch rescues over water and rugged terrain.
Just before a job, Ms Billington is constantly evaluating changing weather, terrain, and hazards.
"We as aircrew are highly trained personnel and I stay focused in high-pressure situations by relying on my training, following our procedures, checklists and keeping communication open between all crew members."
Ultimately, she wants the Canberra community to look up at the rescue chopper and understand its vital, around-the-clock role as a flying intensive care unit.
"It provides rapid transport between the scene and hospital 24 hours a day. We are out flying because people in the ACT and surrounds need our help," Ms Billington says.
Described as an operational "powerhouse," Superintendent Alexander Middlemiss has spent more than two decades protecting communities both locally and internationally.
He began his career on the frontline with ACT Policing before climbing through the ranks into highly demanding specialist roles, including tactical response, undercover operations, and dignitary protection.
Between 2022 and 2023, Superintendent Middlemiss commanded the AFP's Specialist and Protective Command, overseeing national security readiness and strategic coordination.
Since 2024, he has been deployed as the Senior Responsible Officer in Vanuatu, driving policing partnerships in the Pacific nation and leading frontline responses to major humanitarian crises.
In recognition of his diverse and impactful career, Superintendent Middlemiss was awarded the Australian Police Medal (APM) in the 2026 King's Birthday Honours.
AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett described him as "calm, resourceful and effective leadership in some of the AFP's most physically and mentally demanding roles".
One of two distinguished Australian Federal Police officers recognised in the 2026 King's Birthday Honours, Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt has been awarded the APM for his exceptional leadership and operational capability.
His decorated career began more than three decades ago, navigating complex investigative and intelligence-focused teams, including a critical five-year posting in Beirut.
Upon returning to Australia in 2015, he stepped into senior leadership roles that culminated in his promotion to Assistant Commissioner for Counter Terrorism and Special Investigations in 2024.
In this high-stakes role, he was instrumental in shaping Australia's national security strategy and directing major operational responses to keep the country safe.
In the words of AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett: "Assistant Commissioner Nutt has been a steadfast presence in policing for three decades, with his colleagues relying on his unwavering leadership and operational capability in every role he has undertaken."
In May 2026, the APM recipient stepped into to his latest frontline command as the Assistant Commissioner for Global Operations, managing international security and regional portfolios
