By Tyler Wright
Emerald SES has taken the spot of the third busiest Victorian unit in the last year with 1,971 requests for assistance.
This comes after the community celebrated Wear Orange Wednesday (WOW) on 18 May and National Volunteer Week.
Ben Owen leads the unit management team at Emerald SES and guides volunteers to meet community expectations. He said last year’s storm made up a lot of the callouts attended to by the team.
“We had some plans around getting meals ready and having a crew and management team ready to go; that night we had hundreds of calls for help and in those hundreds of calls to help we had seven or eight calls for people trapped in their homes, trees had come down,” he said.
“Pretty much the worst conditions for people to be out on the road and we were out for that. Took us well over a week cleaning up; having multiple CFA crews, multiple SES crews, Shire crews all assisting.”
The Unit Controller said fallen trees are a significant issue in Emerald and volunteers are called out to incidents of loose tiles and sheet metal blowing away as a result of weather events.
“We’ve got requirements in the area to have the road rescue truck on the road in less than eight minutes for a critical response to people trapped in vehicles or machinery.. or aircraft crashes,” Mr Owen said.
“365 days of the year. Christmas Day, Boxing Day. Good Friday, it doesn’t matter. We still need volunteers.”
The team at SES’s Emerald Unit moved into an upgraded space last November, sporting new toilets, lockers, and a large meeting and training space alongside a garage space to store emergency response vehicles.
“We want to try and encourage those that are sitting home without power or heating to potentially come up and keep warm and network with other families in a similar situation,” Mr Owen said.
He also hopes the unit can become a base for emergency services throughout the area to share resources.
“We’ve got a big training room, we’ll open it up to emergency services and if they need the facility and we haven’t got it booked for a training course regionally or locally; we’re more than happy to share,” he said.
Maree Dunn, Derek Harris and David Wilson all dedicate their time to Emerald SES throughout the week and share the combined experience of an emergency nurse, telecommunications worker and logistics warehouse manager – all collaborating to produce the best outcome.
“It’s real teamwork, and we work with CFA and the police really well, we do a lot of Ambulance carry-outs,” Ms Dunn said.
And all three are excited to welcome volunteers, stressing that rushing out to a call is not the only role available.
“Truck driver, fundraising, community engagement, media engagement, auxiliary… unit support, vehicle equipment, financial support with our Treasurer,” Mr Wilson said.
Training courses for various skills are also provided to SES volunteers – including first aid and chainsaw licenses.
“Huge friendships that last for a long time,” Mr Wilson said.
To enquire about a volunteer role at SES, head to ses.vic.gov.au or contact 1300VICSES.
