At 21 years old, Luke Foggo is the youngest SES member across several units in the region, but you would never know it from the way he carries himself.

He did not join the conventional way.

He wandered into the shed one afternoon out of curiosity, drawn by the trucks and a vague sense that this was somewhere he belonged.

A job came in while he was still looking around. Someone said he could tag along. He jumped in the truck, went out on the call, came back, and was handed a piece of paper to sign.

“Robert Marmont goes, you are now a member of the SES,” Luke laughed.

“I didn’t know what I was signing but I am glad I did.”

That was nearly four years ago.

Since then Luke has quietly become one of the unit’s most reliable faces, the one who shows up before everyone else, gets the trucks out, checks the tyres and oil, and has everything ready so that when the rest of the team arrives all they have to do is grab their gear and go.

It takes him about five minutes.

He does not make a fuss about it.

His role extends beyond the shed.

He handles supply runs, picks up training lunches and morning teas, and pitches in wherever he is needed.

It is not glamorous work, and he does it without complaint because giving back to Hay is, in his words, the whole point.

“It was just passion,” he said when asked what drew him to the SES. “Getting back to the town when I can.”

The past six months have tested that commitment. An injury sidelined him, kept him from lifting, and forced him to step back from the unit at a time when he wanted nothing more than to be in the thick of it.

“It really hurt me because I can’t go and do what I love,” he said simply.

He is back now, in full swing, making up for lost time.

Earlier this year Luke received a surprise when an invitation arrived to a gathering he had never attended before.

He knew something was up but did not expect what came next, a flood service award recognising his contributions during the 2023 and 2024 flood events, presented in front of a room that included Helen Dalton and the SES Commissioner.

“I didn’t realise the gathering was going to be so big,” he said. “That was a good surprise.”

He spoke warmly about the people he works alongside, particularly the older members who he says carry knowledge that cannot be taught in a classroom.

“They have a lot more experience than young ones and they can teach you things the correct way,” he said.

“But again, we all work as a team. No one has any problems with anyone. There is no ‘I’ in team.”

It is the nature of the work that there is no such thing as a convenient time.

A job can come in at 8.30 on a Tuesday night and the crew may not see their beds again until 10 the next morning, or three in the afternoon.

Nobody knows until it is done.

One of Luke’s standout memories has nothing to do with the emergency itself.

He was on a long overnight job, waiting on police coming from Albury, the team sitting in the dark with a kettle in the truck, someone making a run for hot food, Cheryl Marmont sending out cookies.

“You may be sitting there waiting but you can still have a good time while doing it,” he said.

Luke is the youngest member not just in Hay but across the Balranald, Deniliquin and Conargo units as well, and he is acutely aware of that.

He wants to change it.

His message to anyone sitting on the fence, young or old, is straightforward:

“Put your foot in the door,” he says.

“If you see an SES member down the street just tap them on the shoulder and say, ‘hey, I want to come over to the shed’.

“We’re always looking for new members.”

He hopes to be one of them for another two or three decades, injury and geography permitting.

“One foot in front of the other,” he said. “That’s exactly right.

This article appeared in The Riverine Grazier, 20 May 2026.