Mr Barnes only found out he was nominated for the citizen of the year award a week before the event.
“It was the last thing I was thinking. I didn’t know anything until just over a week ago,“ he said.
Mr Barnes was 15 years old when he signed up to the fire service, at the end of 1961.
He has simultaneously worked as a grain farmer full-time while volunteering with the RFS.
“I’m a group officer now, so anything that’s needed we ask for over the radio while we’re at the fire scene,” he said.
Mr Barnes will be stepping down from group officer to deputy group officer this year in an attempt to wind down.
Mr Barnes has attended countless fires in the region, including a fire which he attended immediately following the award ceremony in Mathoura.
“We had a fire even just the other day at Bunnaloo, at the feed lot, which was three or four hectares,” he said.
“I’ve seen big fires. I’ve been to ones in Kempie (NSW), Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.
“You never know what you’re gonna get until you get there.”
Despite having witnessed many devastating fires in Australia, Mr Barnes still manages to find the happier moments of being a fire volunteer.
He recalls one of the funnier times when the aptly named helicopter Elvis dumped muddy water all over him and his workmates, on Kangaroo Island.
“We ran for cover,” he said.
Since Mr Barnes has received his Citizen of the Year Award, he has fielded multiple phone calls from people thanking him for his contribution to the community.
“I didn’t realise I’d done so much work actually,” he admitted.
Mr Barnes thanked all the Caldwell people, in particular, Barbara Goudie from the Caldwell RFS brigade.
He also thanked his wife and son for holding down the fort while he was away.
The fire Mr Barnes was called out to immediately after accepting his award was in Mathoura, which he promptly attended.
