Gunning's Beth Baines has retired after 25 years with Southern Tablelands Zone Rural Fire Service

In her role as administration officer for the Southern Tablelands' Rural Fire Service, Beth was the first point of contact for people seeking help and comfort, particularly during the black summer bushfires of 2019/20.

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Beth was born and bred in Gunning. Her first job out of high school was with Gunning Shire Council.

"I worked there until I got married and had my first baby. I saved about 20 years of maternity leave," she said.

As Beth was returning from maternity leave she put her hand up for a different part-time job at Gunning Shire Council.

"That was just a job share but while I was doing that, the council used to look after all the [NSW] Bush Fire stuff, which I helped with."

In 1996 Beth moved into the role of secretary for NSW Bush Fire Service fire control officer Peter Dyce.

"At that time there was just the two of us and he was also new to the job," she said.

"This was when the bush fire services began to spend a bit of money, and employed staff."

When the State Government's Bush Fire Service became the NSW Rural Fire Service in 2001, Beth was one of its foundation members.

Then in 2003, Yass Valley, Crookwell and Gunning local government areas became known as the Southern Tablelands Zone under fire control officer Adrian Carey, for NSW's Rural Fire Service.

Beth continued to work from Gunning until 2004, when Goulburn Mulwaree joined the Southern Tablelands Zone, after an amalgamation of local government areas.

Beth shared her time between the offices at Goulburn and Crookwell until she retired, last month.

"I was born and bred in Dalten, which is 11 kilometres away [from Gunning].

"When we amalgamated with the Crookwell Shire Council we weren't allowed to have two fire control officers in the area so they closed the Gunning Fire Control Centre down and I went to Goulburn."

For Beth, who describes herself as a people person, the role was a perfect fit.

"I enjoyed meeting up with the captains and the brigade volunteers and also the people that I worked with were a great bunch," she said.

"It was just a great job."

Beth's role was to answer the phones, deal with correspondence, deal with the volunteers and make sure their memberships were up to date.

"It's all on computer now, on a database, so if they go out to an incident, as long as their captain records it okay, all their records are there so you can go back in and see how many hours they've done," she said.

"It was a lot of date entry."

That's not to say there were not some challenging times for Beth in the role.

"During the black bushfires it was quite daunting," Beth said.

"People would ring and want to know how the fire was going to affect them, so it was quite busy. Fortunately that didn't occur a lot but we've had quite a few what we call section 44s, which is when the fire's out of control and we need assistance from other areas. That's when it gets quite hectic."

Of the volunteers she worked with, Beth said that they were "just amazing".

"They give up their time and they drop whatever they're doing to attend an incident," she said.

"There's two sides to it. On one side is the every day fire where someone has lit a fire and it's got away from them, which is easy to put out. And then there's the section 44's where the fire is out of control. That's a completely different side to the every day stuff. Fortunately we don't get a lot of them."

For Beth the biggest challenge came about 10 years ago.

"Head office was looking for expressions of interest for an admin person to go and do six weeks in head office at Homebush Bay, and I put my hand up for it." she said.

"Here was this country girl going into the city. I had to drive in Sydney 40 minutes to get to work, it was a great challenge, and I loved it. That's been the highlight of my career I suppose."

For Beth, the decision to leave the NSW Rural Fire Service was about timing.

"I've got a sick husband. He's got alzheimer's so he requires a lot of care," she said.

"I've got a garden that my husband helped me with. We built the garden together and I didn't realise how much weeding he did until he wasn't able to do it any longer. I want to get my garden back in order."

Beth and her husband Graham run a merino sheep wool farm, so her retirement will be less about slowing down, and more about working from home.

"We're just downsizing, because when you run your own farm you've got to do your own crutching and do your own land marking and stuff like that and Graham can't keep up with it anymore," she said.

The NSW Rural Fire Service Southern Tablelands Zone Facebook Page described Beth as the "face of the service to volunteers for over 25 years".

"She has been a kind, pleasant, professional and respectful person representing the Rural Fire Service at a district level, and she will be missed by all her work colleagues and volunteers.

"We wish Beth all the best in retirement returning back to their property to enjoy a more peaceful life."