The former captain of the Bermagui Rural Fire Brigade, and current operational member of the ACT Rural Fire Service (ACTRFS), Mr Potts was presented with the Australian Fire Service Medal in this week's Queen's Birthday Honours.

Mr Potts said he first "officially" joined the NSW Rural Fire Service in 1996, although he had been a member since the early 1990s.

"In those days it was a very active brigade," Mr Potts told Australian Community Media of his time at Bermagui.

"We were not only tasked with bushfire protection but because there was no town brigade we used to attend a lot of structural fires and motor vehicle accidents as well.

Mr Potts said a spate of house fires stood out for him during his time in Bermagui.

"There had been a high proportion of houses moved from the Snowy Scheme to become holiday homes there. Then we had a spate of house fires.

"We worked out that they were being caused by electrical ignition in the ceilings. These houses had rubber coated wiring in metal conduit that the salt air was corroding and causing shorts.

"It was really eye-opening."

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Mr Potts said while serving with the Bermagui RFS, he also helped found the local branch of the State Emergency Service and that the dual role was "a really interesting time". He was a member of both the Bermagui RFS and SES from 1998 until 2004.

That dual role held him in good stead for his current role within the ACTRFS, which he said operated under the umbrella of the ACT Emergency Services Agency - where the territory's RFS, SES, Ambulance and Fire and Rescue organisations share resources, training facilities and report to a single commissioner.

Although based in the ACT for the past 12 years, many on the Far South Coast would remain indebted to Mr Potts for his efforts during the 2019-20 bushfire season.

"I started that season on the incident management team in Glen Innes where we had control of fires between the mid-north Coast and the Queensland border," he told ACM.

Mr Potts said the ACTRFS had around 1800 separate deployments throughout the territory and interstate in a nine-month period.

"And as you're aware the fires headed south and I ended up working very closely with the NSW RFS and ended up coming to the Bega Valley Fire Control Centre in a public liaison role.

"This was when the fires were really busting out, when Cobargo and Quaama had been impacted and the Border Fire was coming up from the south.

"It was great I was able to assist, but shocking to see how impacted the community was."

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In particular Mr Potts said it was "surreal" to see his home of Bermagui effectively cut off during the height of the fire emergency and to see a lot of Bermagui residents in Bega at the evacuation centre - "including most of our old neighbours".

He said it was encouraging to see the great work being done by many in the Bermagui community to rally support for everyone unable to make it out safely.

Mr Potts remains with the ACTRFS, with his focus on pre-planning and development controls - for example checking over development application proposals to make sure they are taking suitable fire protection elements into consideration.

In addition to his considerable work within the Rural Fire Services of NSW and the ACT, Mr Potts' citation for his AFSM also noted his "valuable and consistent contribution to the COVID-19 response, working with several areas of the ACT community".

"In the Incident Management Team, Mr Potts coordinated staff and volunteers in areas including testing centre welfare, computer deliveries to students, health operations officer and delivery of rapid antigen tests to school students and vulnerable community groups.

Like many others in his position on the Queen's Birthday Honours List, Mr Potts said it was simply a matter of doing what was needed.

"It comes back to the country town idea that if there's a need, you fill it how you can."