Back in 1971 there was no such thing as a cellphone, no mobile traffic alerts, no offshore buoys sending real-time warnings of monster waves headed to the North Shore.

But there were salt-of-the-earth folks like Clifford and JoAnn Hirayasu of Wahiawa, newlyweds with a strong sense of civic connection, who always pitched in to help anyone in need.

In their Wahiawa Heights home, Clifford would monitor the Twitter of their day — citizens band radio — to locate people in trouble, whether a stalled motorist spotted by a passing trucker or a boater radioing for help. He would alert emergency responders. Often the Hirayasus themselves stepped up to help.

“Originally, it was just helping our fellow community members,” recalled JoAnn, perky as ever at age 71. “Between Honolulu and the North Shore, there was nothing, you’re talking about total country. People would be stuck with nobody to turn to.”

On May 28, 1971, Clifford, a mechanic, and JoAnn, an elementary school teacher, officially signed up as volunteers with what was then known as the Oahu Civil Defense Agency.

This month they mark 45 years of service as civil defense volunteers — the longest tenure in the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management’s Reserve Corps. At an early celebration last week, they were honored at City Hall with a certificate and standing ovation, with their Chihuahua-terrier in a sling under JoAnn’s arm.

“They are very giving people, not only of their time, but everything else,” said Jeff Spencer, volunteer services coordinator for the department. “They would give you, in the proverbial phrase, the shirt off their back, and in this case they actually would. Once you meet them you’re like a member of their family.”

When a hurricane threatens, major surf is predicted or a tree falls across the road, the Hirayasus don’t huddle at home; they head out with foul-weather gear and flashlights — along with Spam musubi in case they are stuck out all day, standing in the wind or rain.

Their primary mission as volunteers is to support police, fire and other first responders. They come out for power failures, tsunami alerts and floods. They reported for duty during Hurricane Iwa in 1982 and Hurricane Iniki a decade later. Not only do they turn up for disasters; they also pitch in at tsunami evacuation drills at elementary schools and other community events.

When they were working full time and raising three children, it was more of a juggling act — and on a few occasions they toted the kids along.

“I told my husband when we first started, ‘This is kind of ridiculous. You are out on the road, and here I’m home with my two little babies. If anything happens, now what?’” JoAnn recalled. “We just learned to muddle through.”

As volunteers, their duties include traffic control, helping with evacuations, damage assessments and monitoring surf and road conditions. Clifford has been deputy coordinator for the North-Central Oahu district for more than 30 years. JoAnn is the logistics officer for the district.

They are cherished for their quick response, upbeat attitude and willingness to go wherever needed.

“We get called quite a bit, being that we are retired and can go out,” said Clifford, 74. “We don’t have any little ones, so it’s easier for us.”

The boundaries of their district stretch from Central Oahu to Velzyland on the North Shore, but they have turned up to help with brush fires on the west side and man traffic signals in town during the islandwide Black Friday Blackout in 2008.

They serve alongside roughly 100 volunteers with the Department of Emergency Management.

“Our volunteers provide an invaluable service to the city,” said John Cummings III, public information officer for the department. “Often they can free up a first responder. The pay for all of those hours of services would be a huge amount. They do all of this for free, even in the middle of the night.”

Volunteers learn what to do by taking the Community Emergency Response Team program, a 20-hour course that teaches basic disaster preparedness and response skills. They also go through traffic control training with the Honolulu Police Department.

In many cases they are the public face of the Department of Emergency Management. They also are a crucial source of information to the Emergency Operations Center, relaying reports on traffic and road conditions, weather, evacuations and shelter operations, Cummings said.

“The core of the program really is our volunteers, like Clifford and JoAnn, who are out there providing services and assisting our residents, because the reality is, the residents are going to meet these folks first,” Cumming said. “We’re down in this bunker.”

In the old days they provided their own traffic cones — not to mention the gasoline they’d give to stalled motorists or the radio equipment and batteries they bought. Now the city issues them a full package with uniforms, rain gear, emergency lighting and a PA system, plus an expensive, city-issued radio.

“So we’ve come a long way,” JoAnn said.

Over the years, their community spirit has rubbed off on others. Their youngest child, Kate Adams, and her husband, Stephen, both signed up as “junior volunteers” when they were teenagers and went on to become adult volunteers in the Department of Emergency Management Reserve Corps.

“It’s just the way I was brought up and what I’ve always known, so it was just natural for me,” said Adams, who has logged 15 years as an official volunteer.

Looking ahead, it looks likely to stay a family affair for some time.

“Dad always says, ‘Oh, only a couple more years, couple more years,’” Kate said after the ceremony at City Hall. “Now he’s saying maybe five more years and then he’s going to get out.”