Mr Lapsley will move from his role as Fire Services Commissioner to an over-arching position as Emergency Management Commissioner. 

The job will put him at the helm of every emergency response in Victoria, ranging from bushfires, to floods, to natural disasters. 

He said the added duties were something he was looking forward to, after four years as Victoria's first ever Fire Services Commissioner.

“When you think of every emergency across the state, it’s certainly a big step up,” he said.

“The agencies have always worked together. But this is aiming to improve the way we work with one another... It puts someone at the centre of coordinating a response, and that’s a really critical thing.”

The promotion places Mr Lapsley at the head of the biggest overhaul of Victoria’s emergency services in 27 years.

He will be the first Emergency Management Commissioner in Australia.

The business cards are still on hold but the work begins now, as the state government put the finishing touches on the legislation.

"The first thing we’ve got to do is make sure the legislation is right," he said. "We've learnt from flood recovery efforts and from Black Saturday. We've seen that interoperability is something we've got to focus on."

Mr Lapsley knows the ins and outs of emergency management better than most. In a 30-year-career he has progressed to top positions in the CFA, NSW Fire Brigades and SES.

Before he was using eight-syllable words like interoperability he practised the trade as a junior firefighter growing up in Bendigo. Mr Lapsley literally lived across the road from the old View Street station.

"My father was the boss of the Bendigo fire brigade so I got to grow up around the fire station."

"From an early age, I think in my own way I saw the need to contribute, particularly in the CFA world."

His name still features on an honour board at the station as a former junior brigade captain.

Mr Lapsley's first boss, Noel Strauch, said he remembers an intelligent and hardworking 16-year-old who dropped out of school to take up an apprenticeship with the CFA.

Mr Strauch ran the CFA maintenance workshop in Bendigo. He said Mr Lapsley was a "natural".

"He had a great deal of talent," he said. "He moved up through the fire service quickly and he seemed to love it. I think it was always going to be the case since he was just a volunteer as a young lad."

Mr Strauch said he couldn't think of a better candidate for the new emergency management role.

"I think he'll do us proud."

Another former boss who mentored Mr Lapsley said he was "not surprised in the slightest" to see his career progress.

Bruce Furnell, who is now chairman of Huntly fire brigade, said he saw huge potential in the young recruit from Bendigo who moved over in the early 1980s. 

Mr Furnell said he was glad to see someone so passionate and well-qualified take on the role.

"It was probably logical that he is in the position he is in now," Mr Furnell said.

"His career path has planned out because of what he has put into the job. He just kept working. If you sent him out to do a job, he’d go out and do two or three jobs and then come back."

Mr Lapsley's new role will be enshrined when legislation for the new emergency management structure is introduced to parliament later this year.