In his decade-long involvement with the SES, he has witnessed storms, floods, road crashes and more.

On Thursday night, the Minnamurra resident was named Kiama Citizen of the Year.

After Kiama's intense storm last year, he spent 20 hours on the first day of the recovery effort, securing houses and checking on residents' welfare.

"It was 18 hours on the second day and it went on, for about a week," he said.

The self-employed software writer put his work on hold and devoted his energy towards the community.

Afterwards, he also did some repair work at home - he had neglected his wife and it was time to balance things out, he said.

Aside from juggling family, work and the SES, the hardest part of the job was attending fatal road crashes.

"Particularly when someone dies on the scene," he said.

"But the good [moments] outweigh the bad," he said.

"With storm work and tornadoes, it's the old people, they are so appreciative of getting help.

"Just the smile on their face ... is more than enough reward for me."

The most memorable rescue happened two years ago when Mr Turner attended a crash scene to perform a body recovery operation.

A milk truck had rolled over a car near Berry and it was reported a driver had died.

"We turned up and she was still alive if you look at the pictures, you'll say, 'how did she ever survive that?'," he said.

Mr Turner said he was honoured to be nominated for the citizen's award.

"It's a team thing. There's a lot of people who help to achieve the results."