SES volunteer Nathan Mordue joined to meet people, help in distress

He had been sent the call out message at 1am saying immediate help was required.

"People were trapped. A big gum tree had fallen straight through the house and there were occupants inside," Mr Mordue said.

That night there were 60 incidents for the Dubbo SES.

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After helping the family, Mr Mordue had to rush to the next job - a roof had completely blown off someone's house.

"All you had were the walls of the house and the roof was down the street," Mr Mordue said.

That night featured just two of the many incidents Mr Mordue has assisted with since signing up to the SES 12 months ago. He joined up after moving from Newcastle with his wife as a way to meet new people.

The best part of the role was knowing you've helped eased someone's distress, the volunteer said.

"You get that job, you read what it is, you go and respond. You know that person is in distress, or that the person has just had the roof of their house blown off and when we get there it's like 'it's okay, we'll take care of the house, we'll make it safe' and then the insurance company can come in and do their work," Mr Mordue said.

While the SES primarily responds to storm damage, they also do land and search rescue, evidence searches for the police and some motor vehicle crashes when required.

Car crashes were often the hardest of the role, especially when someone was deceased, Mr Mordue said.

"You feel like you can't help that person because they're no longer with us, but what you can do is protect their dignity, basically. It it's on a highway [like a recent incident], you can tarp off the area so other people can't see in, so they've got more privacy and respect," he said.

"You get that sort of fulfillment."

The first incident for Mr Mordue came when he was making cupcakes with his wife.

Each time his phone buzzes with a call out, the volunteer is told details of the incident, such as the severity and location. He then responses to tell them if he's free.

The duty officer picks the best team for the incident, which usually involves four people: a driver who is also a chainsaw operator, a back-up chainsaw operator and two people who can get on the roof.

Every person is also trained in CPR if required.

There are 20 volunteer members, however it's far short of what is needed for a city like Dubbo.

"For a town of this size we should probably have 50 to 100. What that means is when he have large events, such as in January when we had 60 call outs in one night, we have to call in resources from other areas like Wellington, Narromine and Lightning Ridge," Mr Mordue said.

During times when people tend to travel, like Christmas or school holidays, it's important the SES knows who will be around and available to respond.

The SES also keeps a close eye on the weather to see if any storms are forecast.

"If we know next week that the weather's reporting strong winds we'll make sure we're prepared for it; the vehicles are all equipped with the heights safety kits so we can get on roofs, the chainsaws are ready to go," he said.

"They are every day of the week but it's making 100 per cent sure."

Despite what's happening with the weather, the SES volunteers train every Tuesday night for two hours. It includes a range of practical and theoretical knowledge from making sure they can get onto buildings safely to swimming training.

They're also looking to the future for the next major event.

"It hasn't rained for such a long time so when it does rain, everything is so dry we're going to see flash flooding. As the weather patterns have shown over the last couple of years, we're due for a major flood," Mr Mordue said.

One year into his volunteering with the SES, Mr Mordue said he regretted not signing up earlier.

From helping in disasters to running high school students through training, the volunteer said he had loved all of it, especially the people he had met.

"We're like one big family," he said.