Maurice McMillen an Australian Fire Service Medal recipient in Australia Day Honours list

"It's the camaraderie," he said. "And when you're helping someone who is in trouble - at a fire, a house fire, whatever it is - and you are able to make a difference in their life, it's a good feeling.

"It's the colleagues you meet along the way and the friendships you form. It's very rewarding in that respect."

Mr McMillen - who is "just approaching my 50th year" of involvement with the Rural Fire Service (RFS) - is one of only 12 people across the state to receive an Australian Fire Service Medal in this year's Australia Day Honours list.

His long-time home brigade is Eglinton Rural Fire Brigade, but he is a group officer for Eglinton, Freemantle, Peel and Bruinbun brigades to Bathurst's north.

Asked for moments that stood out among his decades with the RFS, he said there were the big ones (including the "most horrendous summer of all" in 2020, the volunteer effort to build the current Eglinton Rural Fire Brigade station on Freemantle Road and the volunteer effort to double the size of the old station in just two days of hard work), but also many smaller ones.

"As funny as it may seem, getting bottled water was an achievement," he said.

"I was campaigning for bottled water and [it was said] 'oh no, it can't happen, it can't happen'.

"And then all of a sudden, the timing was spot on: I was at a meeting up at Mount Panorama with a number of other colleagues and they [the Rural Fire Service] announced that they were going to provide bottled water.

"That, to me, was a huge milestone.

"They conceded that the path they were taking wasn't right - expecting people to lift large vats of water up on to trucks."

Mr McMillen smiled as he remembered a sixpack of bottled water, with a note saying "congratulations", being left on the front of his truck by his bosses at the time.

"We [RFS volunteers] were also on to smoke detectors long before smoke detectors were fashionable," he said. "In fact, we were fitting them.

"As a community service, no charge, we were fitting them for houses and giving people advice on smoke detectors probably three years before they became fashionable and certainly five years before they became mandatory.

"So things like that, we were very progressive - not just me - but progressive in those sorts of things and areas that we could see needed changing and warranted change."

In terms of the Australian Fire Service Medal, he said the honour was "flattering, but it's also humbling".

"Not a lot of people get them, so it's not something that's thrown around like lollies," he said.

"It's very, very flattering, but at the same time, very humbling because there are people who do things that I do that aren't recognised.

"And it's [recognition] not why you do it in the first place, but I guess it's nice to be recognised. And I guess it's showing appreciation for what you've done."

Mr McMillen said the award was also a show of appreciation for his family.

"A manager rang me this morning [on Australia Day morning] and he said it's not just you, it's your family - 50 years, he said, your wife, your kids, they've all missed Christmases, birthdays even, all that sort of stuff, because you're out doing what you do and you're not at home being attentive to them.

"He said it's not just you, it's your whole family. Which is very true."

For those who might have thought about the RFS but wondered whether they'd have the time to commit, Mr McMillen said the answer was simple.

"You make the time. No one has got the time, you just make it - the same as you make it to go swimming or to go bike riding or whatever.

"You just have to make it. Create it.

"And if you're interested enough, and you get the reward from it, you'll keep doing it."

He said the RFS offered lots of opportunities for personal development and learning new skills and even for a new career.

"My son, for example, who was a vollo [volunteer] here for 25 years, he now works for the service and has done for seven years," he said.

"He followed his career path, saw the opportunity, took it, and he's just come back from working in Broome.

"He's been to America with the service, fighting fires.

"The opportunities are just endless now - aviation and motorbikes and boats and you name it.

"You can develop a whole career if you want to or you can just be a vollo like me."

And as for his future with the RFS, Mr McMillen said time would tell.

He said he tends to take things one two-year term (in his position as group officer) at a time and "next year's election year, so I'll look at it then".

"I'm not getting any younger and I'm certainly not getting any fitter, so a day in the bush is a lot harder than it was even five years ago.

"And you've got to make way for the younger people.

"You can't do it forever, so you've got to try to encourage them and lead them down the same path so that they can take over when you've had enough."

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