Upper Yarra SES members joined a long line of SES trucks as they trekked to Colac to warn locals of the Carlisle River fires on Monday 26 January.
Alongside some 100 volunteers, unit controller Hannah Brunton said she and members Garion, Emma and Lisa knocked on doors of residences in the town of Birregurra, 30 kilometres east of the Carlisle fires.
They ensured everybody was aware of the potential for changing fire conditions and how they’d react if fire were to threaten the area.
Ms Brunton said locals were largely well prepared in the event of a fire.
“It was really good. A lot of people already had their fire plans and were already making efforts to either relocate or plan to relocate or back things up or defend their homes if it came to that.
“They mentioned that they were using resources like local radios and the VicEmergency app to keep up to date with things as they changed,” she said.
Ms Brunton and her team had just finished up after responding to a missing persons call in Warburton when the pager came through, yet they put their hands up without hesitance.
She said the pager didn’t specify what was needed so they headed in blind.
“So we got a page yesterday, sort of mid-afternoon, that mentioned that they were seeking 100 SES volunteers to head down to the Incident Control Centre in Colac for a task that they call ground support, which can mean any variety of tasks.
“So we didn’t really know what we were getting into until we got there,” she said.
The SES commonly takes on a supporting role during bushfires, where crews assist in recovery and relief efforts.
“A lot of our members are trained to undertake roles within the incident control center as well. So there’s a lot of roles that SES can fulfill, so it’s not uncommon for us to be around.”
Ms Brunton said the community showed a lot of appreciation and kindness towards the convoy of SES vehicles.
“A lot of people saw us pull up into the town where we were doing the door knocking and they came out to have a look, brought their dogs out for a pat and came to say hello.
“The feedback on their local notice boards down that way were a lot of kind messages as well.”
She said the locals were welcoming and hospitable, offering to help the volunteers in whatever way they could.
“A lot of people were offering snacks… food… somewhere to stay, like it was a really incredible interaction with the community.”
Once the task was complete, crews convoyed to Winchelsea SES to debrief before starting the 200km home trip.
The long trip home saw the hardworking Upper Yarra SES members get to sleep at 1.30am.
Crews arrived back around 1.30am and headed home for a much needed sleep before getting up for work today
