132 alone came from the extreme storm that swept through Mudgee on the afternoon of Wednesday, January 18.

The local unit usually averages about 130 for an entire year.

The clean-up involved four days of constant work for the volunteers, who were assistant by SES Units from as far away as Gosford and Ku-ring-Gai, as fellow emergency services.

Beginning with the Wuuluman fire near Wellington in mid-January where they lent their support.

Then again at the Sir Ivan, Kains Flat and Crudine bushfires more recently, helping with road blocks, food drops and logistics.

And they weren’t the only SES crews with Lightning Ridge and Walgett – a drive of around six hours – also assisting. 

Before they were deployed to Sydney after last weekend’s hailstorm.

And their assistance was welcomed with the Hills district needing assistance with over 800 jobs, the majority being roof damage.

An example of the gratitude shown to volunteers was when they had lunch at a cafè and when they went to pay found out that someone else had done it for them.

Acting local controller, Tamara Robinson, said that out of area deployments also give volunteers experience with things that don’t come up often here such as two-plus storey buildings. 

“The experience that our crews gain from attending these comes back to our community,” she said.

“They bring back more knowledge and skills that they can apply here to better deal with the situations that we deal with here.”

She added that the storm in January showed that the ‘StormSafe’ message has sunk in.

“What’s helped us is the preparation so many people do,” she said.

“Even with the sort of wind that occurred we didn't lose any lives and to me that shows that as a community we seem to be prepared.”