Mr Stevens was awarded two accolades on Monday night: life membership of the SES after a nomination from his peers, and his medal for 50 years’ service. 

“It’s humbling to be recognised by the service for the effort I’ve put in,” he said.

“It’s the team who really put their shoulders to the load and my role has been setting them in the right direction – I think this is saying I’ve probably got the direction right.”

Mr Stevens, now 66, joined the SES as a 14-year-old.

“It’s not possible to join at that age these days,” he said. 

“These days you can join up as a 16-year-old.”

His love of radio communications drew him to join.

“It was really a means of getting access to toys to play with,” he said with a laugh.

But his passion to keep volunteers reliably in touch led to the unit trialling equipment as technology advanced, particularly in isolated locations at Ophir and challenging spots such as Orange’s stormwater channels.

“In the early stages, I was challenged to talk between the unit in McLachlan Street over the hill where the big flag is on Bathurst Road – if you could talk past there, you were doing really well,” he said.

“Now I can talk from a handheld here in Orange to state headquarters in Wollongong.”

The first responders for storm damage and flooding, Mr Stevens said the Orange unit had faced many challenges – from searching for two missing people in floodwaters at Borenore and 12 months on alert during a wet 2010-11 in case Suma Park Dam failed, to a recent mini-tornado at Icely Road where a shed was destroyed. 

However, he said the 1999 Sydney hail storm particularly stood out.

He was part of a crew stationed at Botany for six weeks, stretching tarpaulins over damaged roofs, and the crew found a tile with a hole in the middle where a hailstone had fallen.

“On every house in the street, the roof was decimated,” he said.

“The size of the hail was around about the size of a cricket ball.”

Mr Stevens is one of three generations in the SES  – father Byron Stevens was also a member until his passing last year and son Robert remains part of the unit. 

“I’m still working on my grandkids,” he said. 

Fellow Orange members Patrice Watson and Amanda Aitken were both recognised for 10 years’ service and Blayney’s Ron Murray was awarded for five years’ service.