As a seasoned volunteer firefighter, Simon Andrews says he witnessed people with horrific injuries, attended suicide scenes and fought hundreds of fires.
The former race car mechanic and delivery deliver says he can no longer work after developing chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, related alcohol abuse and various other mental issues due to his time in the NSW Rural Fire Service between 1997 and 2014
The 48-year-old's claim for compensation is being contested in the Supreme Court in Sydney after the NSW government denied it was negligent in its care of Mr Andrews.
A hearing is due to begin on Wednesday.
If successful, the state may be forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars - potentially millions - to cover Mr Andrews' medical and domestic care and lost earning capacity.
Mr Andrews says, in documents before the court, he spent 17 years as an RFS volunteer service at fire brigades in Illawong and Austral on Sydney's outskirts.
Between 2004 and 2011, he says he was called out for more than 500 fires and explosions, 104 motor vehicle accidents and 58 hazardous conditions.
In 2007, he attended the scene of a car crash in Kemps Creek where the driver survived with horrific injuries.
Weeks later, he was there as a body was removed from a car involved in a two-car collision in the same suburb.
That same year, Mr Andrews - who ran a water bottle delivery service by day - attended scenes where people suffered life-threatening burns or died.
One of his final jobs was tackling a one-kilometre grass fire at the shooting facility built for the Sydney Olympics.
"When (Mr Andrews) got home that day, he realised that he just could not attend another fire," his statement of claim reads.
After critical incidents, the RFS took no action to screen or otherwise assess him for possible PTSD or refer him to a doctor, he claims.
The government agrees Mr Andrews was never subject to screening, psychometric assessment or a diagnostic interview, and he was never formally screened for possible PTSD following critical incidents or when he enrolled at the RFS.
But NSW rebuffed a claim they never provided him with information necessary to detect the early signs of PTSD.
It says Mr Andrews was provided with documents on critical incident support services on multiple occasions.
It denies any negligence, including that it failed to take adequate care for the safety of Mr Andrews or the unemployed man's claim that an RFS welfare coordinator failed to refer him for psychiatric or psychological assessment.
In its defence, NSW also does not admit Mr Andrews suffers chronic PTSD or related alcohol abuse or that he'd suffered a loss of earning capacity.
Mr Andrews claims his annual medical costs are almost $15,000 and he's lost the capacity to earn $78,000 in annual wages.
He's also stated he intends to engage paid domestic carers for 14 hours a week at a cost of about $25,000 per year.
His lawyers says psychologist Sam Bornstein assessed Mr Andrews in 2016 as "unemployable" due to his level of impairment.
Mr Andrews is expected to be cross-examined when the hearing begins on Wednesday.
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Australian Associated Press