An emergency services stalwart has been honoured for his service to the state.
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NSW State Emergency Service (SES) Wingecarribee controller Warren Turner received an emergency services medal as a part of the Australia Day 2020 honours list.
Mr Turner has been an active member of the NSW SES for 15 years.
During his tenure, he has served in several leadership and senior leadership positions, including as team leader, rescue officer, training coordinator, incident controller, local controller for Kiama and the Wingecarribee and local commander for the Southern Highlands cluster.
Mr Turner said he was "honoured and proud" to receive the medal.
"I'm actually quite astonished I got it," he said.
"The main thing is I couldn't do it without a strong team."
Mr Turner said he was proud of the progress his team had made in previous years.
"We're kicking goals in the Wingecarribee," he said.
"Female equity and youth diversity are two key targets. We've worked on those and achieved them."
In the next five years, Mr Turner has his sights set on the establishment of a second Wingecarribee unit in Moss Vale, in response to the growing population.
He would also like to grow the membership of the Canyonleigh unit.
Both of the SES Units he has led have been primary rescue units for road crash rescue, general land rescue and vertical rescue, adding an extra degree of complexity to the leadership style required.
During his service with the SES he has been involved in multiple major storm and rescue events.
In addition to field work he is also the chair for several NSW SES capability development groups, including general land rescue and remote area search.
He also initiated a working group for the introduction of overnight search capability for the Illawarra-South Region.
Mr Turner has earned three NSW SES Unit citations and was awarded Citizen of the Year for service to the community in the Australia Day 2014 awards.
He is committed to equity, diversity and professionalism, and was the founder and grant fund raiser for the 'Get Ready Girls' community resilience campaign both for the Kiama and subsequently Wingecarribee units.
Mr Turner has provided dedicated and committed service to the NSW SES, and to the people of New South Wales throughout his career.
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