By Michael Doran
The SES perform many vital functions and one of those is in Road Rescue, carried out by 103 specialist units scattered across Victoria.
Over two weekends and an evening, SES volunteers from Emerald, Upper Yarra and Healesville recently completed training in all facets of road rescue techniques.
SES Operations Officer, Central Region, Jackson Evans said that one of his roles was to train volunteers in road rescue and the training required more than 32 contact hours.
The course, held in Healesville, was aimed at equipping members with the knowledge and skills to work in a team at a road accident to extricate trapped persons and respond to on-scene hazards.
“VicSES has a very technical role at a car accident; firefighters, police and ambulance have their role to play and ours is to strategically remove parts of the car away from the casualty as a result of an accident,” he said.
“All 10 members successfully completed the two parts of the course and gained their accreditation,” he said.
The training involved using a range of hydraulic equipment, such as the ‘jaws of life’’ to remove vehicle doors, sides and roofs. To do that effectively the course included work on understanding vehicle construction, how to stabilise a vehicle and how to decide on an extraction plan.
To bring the required realism to the training requires a steady stream of cars, for which the SES rely on donations of cars from the public.
Mr Evans said the need for old cars is a continual one and that if anyone wanted to donate one to please get in touch with the local SES unit.
“In total we used 14 donated cars from the community for this training, giving our members practical experience removing doors and roofs and freeing simulated casualties at an accident.”
With the peak holiday season about to start it is reassuring to know that the local SES units are continuing to build the skills of their road rescue teams in the Yarra Valley.
