A total of 84 volunteer firefighters and CFA staff were awarded National Emergency Medals on Sunday.

The North East firefighters joined more than 5500 CFA members to receive the honour for the 2019-2020 fires, with more ceremonies in CFA District 23 in the coming weeks.

Benalla Fire Brigade Captain and medal recipient Jamie Beaton felt honoured.

"It was great to receive some recognition of the work that was put in during the 2019-20 fire seasons, the effort was enormous," he said.

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CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan said he was proud of the members' efforts.

"The 2019-2020 fires devastated East Gippsland and the North East of Victoria," he said.

"But from that crisis arose the most remarkable human spirit of generosity and 'lending a hand'.

"Our medal recipients have exemplified that spirit, and I am incredibly proud of each and every one of them.

"Whether they joined a firefighting strike team, worked in an Incident Control Centre or provided other assistance to affected communities - every contribution was valuable made a real difference.

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