The Senior Deputy Captain of the Bendolba-Salisbury Brigade beat down flames that were 2 metres high before he could make a path to run his hose and move down into a steep narrow gully where the man had last been seen.

The smoke was so thick around him that he couldn't see anything.

When he ran out of hose he kept on going. He knew the combination of smoke and flames would be fatal to the man and he might already be dead.

He kept calling the man's name and when he eventually received a response from the bottom of the gully he found him lost and out of breath.

The fire was out of control and they had to get out of there. He ushered the man back to his partner and their vehicle and they drove out in convoy.

The flames were in the tree tops when they left.

That courageous act has earned Senior Deputy Captain Ralston a St Florian's Day Commissioner's Commendation for Service, which is only given out for outstanding actions.

The honour is a big deal and it has left him with mixed feelings - after all it's just part of the job.

"Although I am very much appreciative of the award, I did not expect any recognition for doing what I thought needed to be done at the time," he said.

"After 8.5 years as a police officer you expect the worst. There was no way he would have got back to us or south of that location without trying to get through the flames," he said.

The man and his partner, who work for another agency, had lit a backburn south-west of Taree near the Hillville Fire on November 17, 2019. It broke containment lines and quickly became out of control, joining up with the fire front. The man had been trying to control it with a fire rake tool.

The crew from the Bendolba-Salisbury Brigade were sent in as a Lower Hunter strike team to assist, but when they arrived they quickly realised it was a rescue mission.

Firefighter David Longbottom and Incident Controller Captain Nicholas Helyer kept in close contact while he went to find the man.

"It was a dangerous situation to go into in the first place. She had come back out and he hadn't followed her. She didn't know where he was," Senior Deputy Captain Ralston said.

"When I went in there I found her hose on the ground alight. She dropped it because she couldn't handle the smoke or the heat."

Senior Deputy Captain Ralston has been a Rural Fire Service volunteer for 31 years - since he was 16. In that time be was part of the Dungog and Seaham teams before moving to his current brigade.

Both of his parents have also volunteered with the RFS. His mother has been with the service since 1980 and still helps in the Lower Hunter communications unit.