Our staff

Michael (Mick) Robinson District Manager

Phone: 02 6852 5600

Michael Robinson joined the Mid Lachlan Valley team as the District Manager in January 2022.

Mick has been a member of the Rural Fire Service since 2000, during his time in the RFS he has been a Volunteer in Lake Albert, Glenfield, Yarragundry, Alstonville/Wollongbar and Gowang brigades. Mick then made the move to the Rural Fire Service staff in 2015 and held the position of District Officer, District Services Coordinator, Regulatory Coordinator and now District Manager.

Prior to joining the RFS Mick worked as an Industrial Electrician and Communication Cabling Technician at Cargill Foods in Wagga, Rockdale Beef in Yanco and Hyne Timber at Tumbarumba before moving to TAFE NSW as a Trade Teacher and Head Teacher/Section Manager. Before leaving TAFE Mick was responsible for managing 5 Trade sections at Wollongbar TAFE in Electrical, Telecommunications, Electrical Supply Industry (Line workers), Refrigeration and Instrumentation.

Mick grew up in the Riverina at Wagga Wagga and his family comes from Grenfell and West Wyalong. His family have joined him in Forbes with both his wife and adult son working in Forbes and his daughter attending Red Bend.

Mick enjoys camping and travelling through regional and remote Australia with family and friends.

Inspector Robyn Favelle

Phone: 02 6852 5600

Inspector Robyn Favelle has been with the Mid Lachlan Valley Team as the District Coordinator since October 2016.

Inspector Robyn Favelle has been with the Mid Lachlan Valley Team as the District Coordinator since October 2016.

Robyn started as a volunteer in 1974 with Sandy Creek Brigade, 100km west of Cobar. She remains a member of this brigade today. She commenced work as an administration officer based at the Cobar Fire Control Centre in 1997, before taking on the role of Community Safety Officer in 2003. In 2006, Robyn was appointed Operations Officer for the vast Far West Team, which covers the council areas of Cobar, Central Darling, Bourke, Brewarrina and the Unincorporated Area of NSW.

In 2015, she was appointed District Coordinator of Far West Team.

Robyn and her husband moved to their farm at Forbes in 2016 with Robyn transferring into the same role at Mid Lachlan Valley Team.

Interests - Farming, family, travel and history

Gabe Manning

Phone: 02 6852 5600

Gabe Manning joined the team in 2013 as the Mid Lachlan Valley Team Administration Officer.

Gabe is volunteer member with the Forbes Central Rural Fire Brigade since 2014.

In 2018 Gabe was awarded a President’s Scholarship from the Rural Fire Service Association for a Diploma in Leadership & Management.

Gabe was previously employed by Parkes Shire Council and completed my Cert III in Local Government in 2013.
Gabe have three sons, which keep me extremely busy when she is not working.

Interests - reading, spending time with family, socialising with friends and camping.

Angus (Gus) Nielsen

Phone: 02 6852 5600

Angus Nielsen has been with the Mid Lachlan Valley Team as Operations Officer since the very beginning in 2004 when we were formed.

Gus has been working and qualified in the Chainsaw area since 1999, Gus has also been working and qualified in the aviation area since 1999. Gus has completed the Leadership and Team Management qualification in 2005 and Incident Management Operations qualification in 2007. Gus has many other qualifications to suit his role in the Mid Lachlan Valley Team.

Gus started volunteering as a kid on the farm and progressed through the ranks.  Gus was employed with the Weddin Shire for many years until the Mid Lachlan Valley Team was formed in 2004.

Interests - Buying and restoring homes. Grandchildren.

Peter Duffy

Phone: 02 6852 5600

Peter Duffy has been with the Mid Lachlan Valley Team as an Operational Officer Level 2 since November 2021, Peter has currently completed his Operational Level 2 training in 2022.

Peter started as a volunteer in the Bonville Brigade in 1997 where Peter obtained qualifications such as VF, AF and RFD , Peter has also held the positions Deputy Captain within the Molong brigade and Deputy Group Captain in the Canobolas Zone.

Peter has the qualifications for Diploma of Leadership and Management, Cert 11 in Public Safety (firefighting Operations) and Cert III in Public Safety, Emergency Communications Centre Operations.

Peter spent a couple of years living in Victoria and was a member of the Longwarry & District CFA Brigade where he was involved with the Black Saturday Fires in 2009.
Peter has been afforded the opportunities to hold the following staff positions District Assistant in Orana before being offered an OpO 2 position at Mid Lachlan Valley.

Before the Rural Fire Service Peter completed a Green keeping Trade qualification before moving into the transport industry.

Peter enjoys restoring and showing his vintage trucks, spending time with friends and family.

Scott Baker

Phone: 02 6852 5600

Scott Baker has been with the Mid Lachlan Valley Team as an Operational Officer Level 2 since 2021.

Scott has been a volunteer with the Rural Fire Service since 1994, where he started with the Plumpton Brigade. Scott has moved around the state and remained a volunteer with the local brigades including; Uargon Brigade, Armidale HQ Brigade, Tamworth City Brigade, Trundle Village Brigade, and Parkes HQ Brigade. Scott has completed RFS qualifications such as BF, VF, AF, CL, GL, BAO and IMO.

Scott has held various positions in his time within these brigades including Deputy Captain, Senior Deputy Captain, Captain, Deputy Group Captain and Group Captain. Scott is also a Structural Fire Investigator.

Scott has completed his qualifications in Diploma in Public Safety (Emergency Management), Certificate II in Public Safety (Firefighting Operations). Scott is currently completing his qualification in Certificate IV in Training & Assessing.

Before starting fulltime with the NSW Rural Fire Service, Scott held a position as Tow Truck Manager for a local business in Parkes/Forbes for the last 10 years.

Scott enjoys spending his spare time camping, fishing, 4wding and relaxing with his 5 children and 5 grand children.

Gareth Sutton

Phone: 02 6852 5600

Gareth completed his Operational Level 1 Training in 2022 and has become a staff member at the Mid Lachlan Valley Team. Gareth is Community Risk and Community Engagement here at Mid Lachlan Valley.

Gareth has been a volunteer with the service since 2002 years with the Raglan Brigade in the Chifley/Lithgow team. Gareth was a brigade captain from 2015 to 2022 and has held the position of Deputy Group from 2016 to 2018.

Gareth has been a very active member of the zone training team and have trained on a large number of courses ranging from BF to CL and specialise in First Aid and others like collector.

Gareth also has Community Engagement experience and hold the qualification of CLO and many others.

Outside the service Gareth has worked as a tradesman and for 11 years prior to commencing with the service he worked with Youth at Risk running Outdoor education programs to develop leadership and communication skills as well as self - confidence and wellbeing in young people.

His hobbies include spending time with his lovely wife and 2 kids that he loves dearly, abseiling, rock climbing, kayaking, sport and travelling with his family. He loves his cricket, footy and motor racing (no surprises there coming from Bathurst).

Gareth looks forward to meeting and working with you all.

Vicki Williams

Phone: 02 6852 5600

Vicki Williams has been filling a role within the Mid Lachlan Valley team while Gus take some long service leave.
Vicki has been a volunteer member since 2011 with Parkes HQ. She has had many roles within the brigade including Deputy Captain, Captain and now Group Captain. Vicki is the first female group captain in the Mid Lachlan Valley Area.

Some of Vicki’s roles have been to deliver the clean repertory mask, the new helmets, station inspections, truck service movements, doing the duty officer and on call officers role and many more. Vicki has also been activity in the office space with assisting with L&D, Community Engagement and updating doctrine.

Vicki has said she has enjoyed they experience working in the Mid Lachlan Valley Team as she has now has the understanding of how the office staff are there to assist the volunteers.