The state's highest-ranking SES volunteer, Tamworth's Glenn Jones, has been made a life member of the service.
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The 30-year SES veteran is the second Jones in a row to be honoured with life membership in the service. His dad was also a long-term emergency service member.
"I was quite surprised and a little taken aback because it wasn't something I expected, at all," he said.
"It had a very special meaning for me because my father had become a life member and I had the opportunity to be there when he received that a couple of years before he passed away.
"So it has a very special connection for me."
Mr Jones "grew up in the service," he said.
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"My father was a local controller in Sydney. I grew up in the service essentially. I went into the military and when I came back out of the military I reconnected back into the service."
Siblings are also SES members. His elder brother served for 40 years in the service.
Despite decades of service to the state, Mr Jones never took the opportunity to become a permanent employee of the SES.
With local paid positions consistently filled, he made a decision to put his citizenship to Tamworth ahead of an opportunity to advance into a permanent professional role.
But he has years of experience helping in emergencies across NSW, up in the Northern Territory and in Queensland, where he helped out in the aftermath of Cyclone Yasi.
"The most rewarding thing has been the opportunity to develop and implement and deliver training for up-and-coming incident controllers in our organisation.
"It gives them an opportunity to also take deployments and have a greater role in the service."
Mr Jones said the best thing about working in the service was the opportunity to work alongside volunteers committed to helping others.
"The service is a great place for anyone. We certainly embrace a lot of diversity. There's a great opportunity for leadership roles for women and it's a great way for people to serve their community.
"The vast majority of them are very quiet people who are not doing it for awards and that sort of stuff, they're doing it for their community. They give thousands and thousands of hours."
Glenn Jones was issued the life membership by Commissioner Carlene York this week.