KEY POINTS:
Corey Neal has spent all of his adult life ready to help if disaster hits his community.
The 28-year-old has spent 10 years volunteering for the Waitakere Civil Defence, and two years at Auckland Civil Defence before that, and usually gives more than 12 hours a week to the organisation, Waitakere City Council emergency management officer Brandon Guttery said.
"What don't we require of him? Effectively he is on call 24/7. If anything happens, he just drops everything and runs.
"And Corey's always there. He's always enthusiastic. He is just one of those people who leads from the front."
Mr Neal also added more voluntary duties to his plate than most, making sure the paperwork and administrative components of the volunteers' work were kept up to date.
Civil Defence relied heavily on volunteer work, but Mr Neal's passion and commitment set him apart, Mr Guttery said.
"He's definitely passionate about what he does. And he does it for the community. He knows if the community needs the team to be called out, it needs it to respond properly."
Mr Neal said his work with Civil Defence had become "automatic".
"I'd always been into the bush, and that sort of thing. And I just ended up enjoying Civil Defence. It's just part of my lifestyle now."
Occasionally the events he was called to were traumatic, but his work in those situations was rewarding, he said.
"We train for something we hope we never use. But it's one of those things you don't really consider too much. You just go and do it.
"The fact I'm an important part of the community is a major. It's being part of the solution when people are in need."
