At a ceremony and surrounded by his family, Mr Harris was awarded a National Service medal for his dedication to the association.
“It was such an honour,” he said.
“I spent 10 years as part of the CFA at Phillip Island, so it would probably be more than 45 years.”
Mr Harris has attended 495 callouts in the 26 years he has lived here and has attended fires including the Ash Wednesday fires while he lived in Emerald, the Black Saturday fires, for which he received the National Emergency Medal, motor vehicle accidents (some of them fatal) and all manner of other incidents.
He was joined by his sons Shane, Travis and David, who have followed in their father's footsteps having begun by joining the local fire brigade, with Travis going on to be a career fire fighter with Fire Rescue Victoria.
Mr Harris said he didn't do it for awards.
“You do it for the community,” he said.
“Being able to help people is the best feeling in the world.”
5°C