In Lightning Ridge these challenges are further compounded by the difficulty of finding camps among the confusing labyrinth of tracks and trails on the minefields and the fact that many of the houses in town do not have a number.

Station manager Dean Alchin has spent the past four years driving to the critically ill and seriously injured residents of the town and said it is regarded as the most challenging place in NSW to find patients.

"I can remember one night driving around the Nine Mile for about 45 minutes, totally lost," he said.

To help make their job a little easier the local ambulance officers are calling on those on the mine fields to take responsibility for themselves and start thinking about what they will say if they need to call for help.

"Next time you go home look at the major landmarks on the way, measure the distances and write out a bit of a plan," said Mr Alchin.

"It can be hard enough to find the actual field, let alone looking for specific camps, so think about where you could possibly meet us in a vehicle to guide us the rest of the way."

To make it easier to find the camps the Department of Mineral Resources has survey pegs scattered throughout the fields, with the GPS position of each listed and marked on a map. If people know where they are in relation to the nearest peg - there should usually be one with 500 metres - it will make it a lot easier for the ambulance officers to find them.

The problems of the ambulance officers are not limited to the mine fields - in town, too, they have difficulty where house numbers are not properly allocated or clearly displayed.

"Cardinal Road is one of the problem streets. If they say number one they could mean lot one, which is on the east side or house one, which is on the west side, and Murphy's Law says we'll wind up at the wrong one first," said Mr Alchin.

However, the solution is a simple one.

"Now there are a lot more gutters in town I would like to see a clear numbering system go on the kerbs."

He would also like to see home-owners display their number on the front fence.

"There's a lot of houses that just have nothing on them and they're hard to find."

In general Mr Alchin had two pieces of advice: if you live in town make sure your house number is clearly displayed and if you live on a camp make a plan so you know what to do when an emergency occurs.