Recall any major emergency that happened in Raymond Terrace or its surrounds in the past 23 years and you can almost guarantee that in the middle of it lending a helping hand was Dennis Peters.
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The captain of Raymond Terrace Fire and Rescue was among the first firefighting crews on scene when the town's McDonald's burned down in February 2007.
Months later, in June 2007, he responded to countless calls for assistance following the infamous Pasha Bulker storm, and again in 2015 following the April super storm that ripped through Port Stephens and caused significant structural damage and flooding.
Mr Peters and his fellow Raymond Terrace firefighters worked around the clock during a tense week in October 2013 helping to contain a bushfire that destroyed six homes in Salt Ash.
He has attended countless crash scenes and building fires in the past 23 years but it's not the emergencies Mr Peters will remember or miss when he retires from Fire and Rescue NSW at the end of November, but the community engagement.
"If I've influenced just one person in fire safety in the past 23 years then I think I've done a good job," he said.
"The community aspects, education and connections, is the best bit about the job."
Looking for a job after he ended his decade-long career in the Army where he worked as a truck driver and instructor, Mr Peters responded to a Fire and Rescue NSW advertisement calling for fresh blood to join the Raymond Terrace station.
"I was looking for the camaraderie that comes with being in the Army," Mr Peters said.
"The Raymond Terrace job popped up, I applied and the rest is history."
He and wife of 31 years, Robyn, moved to Raymond Terrace where they would raise three boys.
Mr Peters has only ever worked in Raymond Terrace.
He joined the station when it was located in the cramped brick quarters in William Street, doors down from the police station.
Mr Peters said he remembers another major incident early in his career, which happened just around the corner from the William Street station.
"We were in the station and just heard this big boom," he said. "A section of MarketPlace's wall had collapsed into Port Stephens Street when it was being built."
Mr Peters made the move with the fire station in 2010 when it shifted to larger premises in Lakeside Leisure Centre and became captain in 2013 when past captain Dave Davies and deputy captain Doug Foley retired.
While the job itself has not changed in 23 years, Mr Peters said there had been significant advances in other areas such as equipment, training and education.
"The development in firefighting equipment, from what we wear to the appliances [trucks], is second to none," he said.
"There development, Fire and Rescue wide, of ongoing and structured training has also made a big difference. There's also a lot better interaction between retained and permanent firefighters these days."
Fire and Rescue's community engagement campaigns, from attending schools to talk with young students about fire safety to station open days and senior programs where firefighters visit homes to check smoke alarms, is one of the highlights Mr Peters will take away from his firefighting career.
"Community education is the most important thing to me," he said.
"Fire and Rescue attend HAZMAT situation, car accidents, structural fires, we work with NSW Rural Fire and Service and we assist with storms, but we also visit schools, before COVID, and have a home education safety program.
"Through this program, we visit houses of the elderly and help with smoke alarms and plans in case there is a fire. Often, elderly residents are focused on security. We devise a plan with them about what to do if there is a fire in their home.
"On some of these visits you end up staying two hours looking through picture albums and having cuppas because you're the first contact these people have had in days.
"It's very rewarding work."
Mr Peters believed Fire and Rescue NSW's emphasis on community education in fire safety has helped decrease incidents of structural fires.
"Within Raymond Terrace there are less house fires now than there were 10, 20 years ago," he said anecdotally.
"Educating kids, educating the community on fire safety in the home, I think, has played a big role in this.
"There are still serious structure fires that we attend, but there's less."
"If I've influenced just one person in fire safety in the past 23 years then I think I've done a good job.
- Dennis Peters
Another shining memory in Mr Peters' time with Raymond Terrace Fire and Rescue is the annual Santa lolly run through town.
For 20 years Mr Peters has helped to organise the 50-year Raymond Terrace Christmas tradition.
But, Mr Peters said, it was time to put family first.
"I'll get my weekends back and will be able to spend more time with my family, with my two grandkids," he said.
"Robyn and I can make spontaneous plans within having to look at a roster first.
"There will be some disappointment when I see the truck head out and I'm not on it, but now is the time for family."
Mr Peters thanked Robyn and the community for its support of his 23-year firefighting career.