FOR over forty-five years, members of the Victorian State Emergency Service have been volunteering their time to keep communities safe.<\/p>\n
VICSES CEO Stephen Griffin visited the Bendigo and Marong units on Monday to thank volunteers for their tireless work and bring attention to the fact that demand for emergency response is rising.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want people to understand the number of call outs and the increases in demand being made on volunteers particularly,\u201d he said. \u201cOur last year has been the busiest year on record.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had over 500,000 hours of volunteer time right across Victoria, that\u2019s our highest record coming from our bases of about 400.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been COVID, there\u2019s been the issues of helping the Victoria Police with the ring of steel, the border closures, searches and so on, and then of course the weather events of storms and floods, it\u2019s been a very intense couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to VICSES, the north-west region of the state has had almost 4000 calls for assistance since last November with 1901 for fallen trees, 317 for building damage and 195 on flooding.<\/p>\n
Woodend\u2019s SES unit has been the busiest with 869 calls, while Bendigo has had 474 calls.<\/p>\n
Recently SES has assisted with storms, flooding and aiding in Victoria Police\u2019s search for a missing Mandurang South woman last week.<\/p>\n
Mr Griffin said while more people may be out on the roads due to COVID-19 restrictions easing and Christmas approaching, it\u2019s important to remember SES warnings to avoid accidents and emergencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully we don\u2019t see those accidents but given the weather conditions, that\u2019s probably likely to happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope over time people react to the messages we\u2019re sending out, particularly about driving through flood waters, being safe in their surroundings, even looking for trees that might fall on them, we\u2019ve had a lot of those with the high winds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping people really act in a safe way and think about their own safety as they go about holidaying over the Christmas period and coming out into the community for the first time in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bendigo SES volunteer Denise Montgomery has been with the unit for three years after previously working in Wodonga.<\/p>\n
She said the training and support she\u2019s received as a part of the organisation has been crucial in allowing her to assist the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I\u2019ve ever wanted to be is happy and useful, and I am,\u201d she said. \u201cSES has been a big thing with that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s people from all walks of life here, name a profession or a job, there\u2019s someone here that does it. If you\u2019re in SES you know you can help, you\u2019re trained to help, and you\u2019re helping as a member of a team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat takes away a lot of the horror of things you do, because it\u2019s balanced out by the teamwork and the support from colleagues, and the deep knowledge that you\u2019ve been well trained to do what you\u2019re asked to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FOR over forty-five years, members of the Victorian State Emergency Service have been volunteering their time to keep communities safe. VICSES CEO Stephen Griffin visited the Bendigo and Marong units on Monday to thank volunteers for their tireless work and bring attention to the fact that demand for emergency response is rising. \u201cWe want people […]<\/p>\n