She will rely on her precious memories of her fun-loving, kind-hearted dad when she tells her classmates about the man who died protecting her community.

Amarni and her mum Jess, a primary school teacher, had just arrived home on Wednesday when an SES member knocked on her door and said her dad Billy would never be coming home.

The Albion Park man was an SES volunteer attached to the Shellharbour unit, called on when wild storms lashed the region.

He was with a crew removing a fallen tree in Flinders when he collapsed around 3:35pm.

Billy had suffered a cardiac arrest and attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.

Mitch Dawkins, Billy’s brother-in-law and best friend, said the tight-knit family was struggling to come to terms with the “worst news imaginable”.

“This news has broken not only Jess and Amarni but every single person that has had the pleasure of knowing Billy,” Mr Dawkins said.

“We have lost a brother and a best friend, a man with the biggest heart that would go out of his way to help anyone.

‘’This is such a heartbreaking thing for anyone that knew Billy, not to mention his wife and daughter who now have to somehow get on with their lives without their loving husband and father.”

Jess was overwhelmed by the amount of people who rushed to the hospital that dark afternoon.

“We were there at the hospital supporting our sister through this terrible time and were overwhelmed by the amount of people that had rushed to the hospital that afternoon,” Mr Dawkins said.

“This showed just how kind, compassionate, caring, selfless and a loving man that Billy truly was.”

Mr Dawkins has started up a Go Fund Me account to help Jess give Amarni the Christmas that Billy would have wanted.

”Jess is obviously going through so much right now and the last thing that she should be thinking about is financial matters especially right before Christmas,” he said.

“I know Jessica and Billy loved Christmas and loved spoiling their adorable daughter and this year they have lost the most important thing to them.

“Billy always strove to provide Amarni with an amazing Christmas and life which was surrounded by family and amazing adventures.”

“We intend to raise funds for them so that despite this devastating and heart breaking situation they will still be able to enjoy a Christmas.”

In 24 hours, Go Fund Me raised $15,000 of the $20,000 target. Visit https://www.gofundme.com/dgg9f-f