Ashley Sullivan started volunteering with the SES as a teenager and 28 years later he is still going strong.

Sullivan was recognised with an Emergency Services Medal in the King’s Birthday Honours List on Monday along with several local community members.

Former Berry RSL president Raymond Strong and Unions Shoalhaven advocate Joan Craig have been awarded Order of Australia Medals, while Kiama educator Belinda Mackinnon (Public Service Medal) and Gerringong Rural Fire Service captain Andrew Sweeney (Australian Fire Service Medal) were also honoured.

For Sullivan, there has never been a dull moment in his time as a volunteer and, since 2010, an employee with the SES.

When a series of tornadoes hit Kiama in 2013, he was quickly on the scene with the local SES Unit to help people affected by the damaging winds and then get started on the recovery effort.

He described the carnage the confronted SES staff and volunteers as looking like a war zone.

“I'll never forget that night,” he told The Bugle.

“It was very memorable, just the level of destruction that it did. The one that went right through Kiama itself and then all the smaller ones - one went all the way over the back into Jamboroo and a bit further south towards the Shoalhaven.

“I remember flying over it and you could so clearly see the path that it took because it just absolutely destroyed everything in its direction. Amazing.

“Tornadoes just weren't a regular thing that we had to manage so to see that scale of that destruction was pretty memorable.”

Ashley has been called into action for several flood relief efforts in the Illawarra and South Coast as well as many other natural diasters across NSW as well as interstate, pulling people out of cars when they have been trapped in rising waters.

He was instrumental in enhancing flood rescues across NSW following the devastating floods of 2022-23 and has used his corporate and operational background to coordinate the response of the NSW SES following the NSW Government’s Flood Inquiry.

Ashley got started when a family friend told him that he should give it a try and he quickly build up his skill set with tasks like driving boats, repairing storm damage and how to correctly use a chainsaw.

That led him into full-time work as an arborist before he came full circle to return to the SES in 2010.

He now serves as the senior manager of the SES Fleet Service and is also a volunteer member of the Kiama Unit in the South Eastern Zone for the past decade and the Kogarah Unit in the Metro Zone.

“SES has been a huge part of my life and and shaped the career I've been given an opportunity to pursue and here I am today 28 years later.

“I’ve really enjoyed it. I did operations for many many years particularly when I moved down to Wollongong and for the last eight years, I've been in the corporate side of SES, so I get to build and design the agency's vehicles, vessels and trailers.

“And then I still do operations when it happens, like the big floods the big storms. I get to go back out and and and help out where I can.

“Kiama’s got some some great people with great skill sets. I’ve made some really good friends out of being in the unit there.”

Ashley said the best part of the SES is the huge number of everyday Australians who give up their time to help the community in times of need.

“The great thing about the SES is the commitment of the volunteers because these people the drop of a hat, sometimes in the middle of the night, have to go to somewhere that's been affected by a significant weather event,” he said.

“They may be tired but they turn up again and again. We've had some pretty crazy wild weather in NSW in the last five years and our membership is growing.

“Our volunteers turn up and they keep training and exercising and supporting our communities and it's quite amazing.”

He has played an integral role in modifying and enhancing the unimog vehicles that the SES uses in floods which provide deep wading capability to drive through floodwaters.

“We call it a high clearance vehicle - it can wade through 1.2 metres of floodwaters, which is phenomenal,” he said.

“We've seen them rescue plenty of people and resupply lots of communities where we either couldn't get to them or had to use helicopters in the past which is high risk and very costly.”