Last Wednesday Mr Thomas was presented with the emergency services’ highest honour, a National Service medal. Mr Thomas was presented with the medal at the local emergency management committee meeting.

Joining the newly formed Nimmitabel SES Unit in 1991, Mr Thomas’ dedication was recognised in a small ceremony and witnessed by his peers.

“It is a great honour actually,” Mr Thomas said.

“I knew it was coming but I had no idea they were going to present it to me today.”

Back in 1991 the Nimmitabel Unit was new and looking for members, Mr Thomas joined up for about 12 months before moving to Cooma and transferring to the Cooma Unit under the direction of Greg Williams.

Mr Thomas took a slight reprieve in 1994 due to work commitments but was back in action for one of the most tragic events to hit the mountains.

In 1997 a landslide caused two ski lodges to collapse in Thredbo, killing 18 people. The sole survivor, Stuart Diver, was pulled out from below two slabs of concrete 65 hours after the landslide occurred.

Mr Thomas helped with the 1991 floods in Cooma, Sydney hailstorms in 1998 and bushfire support in 2002 to 2003 along with numerous road crashes and search and rescues in the area.

At times Mr Thomas saw SES resources at Cooma drop to just one member yet he persisted and the unit grew to what it is today.

“We had one member at one stage, that was me, I had all the keys,” he said.

“Now we’ve remained steady at around 21 members, we have the new facility at Polo Flat and are about to expand again to include a shed for more vehicles.”

Mr Thomas continues his service with the SES in the role of local controller.