Unit commander of Port Stephens SES David Douglas says that among the hundreds of rescues he has attended over the past five years a few efforts have always stayed with him.
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One was a crash that occurred on Cabbage Tree Road earlier this year.
"There was a lady who was entrapped in a vehicle. I had my hands in the vehicle kind of telling them where they could push and pull without causing further injury to the lady," Mr Douglas said.
"It came out later the lady had had a dislocated head injury. There's about a 10 per cent survival rate for that injury and we got her out where any mistake could have been then end for her.
"That's one of those ones where I thought: we really did make a difference today."
At just 27 years of age, Mr Douglas of Nelson Bay has volunteered for the Port Stephens unit for over five years and acted as commander for two. The volunteer role involves overseeing a unit of 60 members, and a special rescue division.
"Not a whole lot of SES units have that. If someone's got an injury and can't get out of where they are, whether it be a house or a car, or if they're in something or under something, we are responsible for getting them out of that," Mr Douglas said.
The special division is the primary service responsible for rescues in Raymond Terrace, including in the areas of Seaham, Hexham, and Millers Forest. Different emergency services act as the "primary rescue agency" in different localities, Mr Douglas said.
If someone becomes entrapped in the Raymond Terrace area, Mr Douglas has to ensure he can get two volunteers to the unit's base within eight minutes to then respond to the incident. Unit volunteers share the responsibility of being on call, but Mr Douglas said he "always goes out to jobs when he can".
The majority of incidents are on the road.
"At crashes, we'll be dealing with trying to get the person out of the car, the firies will be dealing with spilled oil or HAZMAT, the police might be controlling traffic or entry into scene and paramedics will be looking after the health of casualties," Mr Douglas said.
"We do still deal with all those things if those services aren't there.
"As a volunteer organisation we hold the same accountability as the firies, police and paramedics."
Mr Douglas said he and other SES volunteers were very willing to shoulder that burden.
"It's just one of those things," he said. "I enjoy learning the new skills and giving back to the community. Those skills I use to help people, I could use those skills to help my family. It's things that one day you will be thankful you know."
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