Tucki Tucki farmer and former bus driver John Paisley has been a member of the Rural Fire Service at Wyrallah for more than 50 years and this week he was rewarded for his community service with an OAM.

The first fire I can remember, I don't know whether I was still at primary or high school, was a grass fire down on the flat here. Four farms got burned out. I was helping mum milk the cows and dad was down there and they ran out of water. I don't know how the message got back home but I had to get the draft horse which was tied up, the slide and cream cans and water - because in those days it was only just knapsacks, bags and branches.

I took them up here to the corner to the [Tucki Tucki] cemetery. Dad met me there on the horse, I rode the horse home and dad took the water down to the fellas on the fire. I can remember next morning riding into the back paddock and seeing how black everything was.

I think dad was vice captain of the brigade or deputy captain or something. Same as probably what I have been.

The Tucki Brigade used to be always about say 20 blokes with knapsacks. Prior to the Rural Fire Service taking it over, it used just to be community organised - it was Tucki, Wyrallah, Monaltrie, Marom Creek. Just little areas.

I can remember one night at the Wyrallah Hall through Gundurimba Shire they were trying to establish a brigade. I know there were about 60 or 70 people there and they didn't want to hand out overalls to 60 or 70 blokes. They wanted to narrow it down to 15 or 18 or something. I can remember that. I was only probably 15, 16, 17 or something. By the time I was involved it was the RFS brigade.

Usually it was all private vehicles. The first vehicle we got was a Bedford four-wheel-drive, petrol. I think that was through Lismore City Council at that stage and then the brigade got taken over by the Rural Service Fire and the diesel four-wheel-drives came in.

They were trucks with tankers mainly, dual cabs with a tank of water on the back. Then two-way radio came in and everything else has come since to what it is today.

Now if you get called out to a house fire or something they can call in Caniaba, Alphadale, Woodburn, all other vehicles from other areas. You just combine the whole lot together. It's just one big family, I guess you could say it was that way now. The individual brigades are smaller but they can come from a wider area.

The most significant fire I've been involved with lately was the one 12 months or so ago over at Ellengowan. It was pretty volatile when we got there. I was actually going to another one, taking the truck down to Bungawalbin. I got out to Coraki and they called me up and said: “Hang on. Just stop. There's another one at Ellengowan just started.” So we turned around, went back to it.

It was pretty hairy there for a while when you're in amongst trees and that type of thing. But you get over it and just keep going. It burned out a fair few acres that one. It went for nearly a fortnight. Lucky it was in the time of year it was. If it was later or summertime, it would have been worse. We were pretty lucky it was at that stage.

When I first started it was only sort of like grass fires that you sorted out for your community. Now it’s more road accidents. We've been down to the highway for truck fires and that type of thing.

House fires are very stressful. The first one I ever went to... it sort of cuts you up a bit. After you come home for a while, after the things you saw, you're sort of worried about it, but you just go and do it now and don't think about it.

It's hard on the owners, you see them and just hope they're insured. You try not to let it get to you. I've known ones that it has got to. Road accidents are the worst ones I think for trauma but you don't try and dwell on it. The best thing after it, if anyone has got a bit of a problem, is talk about it. Discuss it. Don't bottle it up.

John Paisley's medal for 50 years service with the RFS. PHOTO: Will Jackson.

My wife Lyn has been very supportive. It frightens you when the pager goes off beside your bed at night. Sort of startles you. Road accidents, when you get on the pager, person trapped or something like that.

There was a fatality just 100 yards up the road here. It was a wet afternoon, cold. I rang Lyn up and said the accident investigation and that were there and she brought up some hot coffee and some toasted sandwiches, she got the job of that. We had a van at that time and she stood at the back of it in pouring rain and poured out coffees for the police and accident investigators and the fire fellas.

There's usually only about 10 members in the brigade. You might get 15 at times. People shift on. It's been good actually with members and everybody looks out for one another because when you're on the end of that hose, at times you can get heat stroke or whatever. You've got to sort of watch out for that.

You can get all over the place with the RFS. I sort of can't get away as much. I've been to a few out of zone fires but a lot of others, that aren't as tied down as me, they go to Brisbane or Sydney or wherever the fires are and they're needed. Get to see a bit of the country and that type of thing.

With me getting to my age now, there's been a lot that's been in it that have left now because of their age or ailments or health or whatever. The younger people are coming through now, which is good because I can't keep going much longer. I reckon probably another couple of years anyway.

The only thing I can say to anybody is get out there and help your organisations, no matter what what it is. Help one another. It helps everybody and then you get the satisfaction of it, which I suppose comes back to me I suppose with the OAM, getting that. The gong is pleasing but I didn't expect it.

All I can say is just thank you. It is just a bit overwhelming to get it. I never expected it. Never dreamed of it. It is a good feeling. I'm just one of those ones who don't expect it. Just do it for the love of it and help people out. Dad always had the saying, help thy neighbour. Probably it's a bit different today to what it was back then but it’s still true.