For the first time, all four of the Eurobodalla’s volunteer emergency services trained together as a group to improve the shire’s response to disasters.
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Crew from the Rural Fire Service (RFS), State Emergency Service (SES), Volunteer Rescue Association and St John Ambulance attended an inter-agency exercise at the RFS training centre, at Bimbimbie, on Saturday, June 3.
Moruya SES field operations coordinator Lloyd Jones said things got done more efficiently when everyone was on first-name terms.
“Having horizontal communication at the local level is key,” Mr Jones said.
“This group training means we have better local control of any incidents that come up,” Mr Jones said.
The day saw participants, in mixed-service groups, rotating through different activities, like river rescues, sand-bagging, and vehicle fires. Mr Jones said this type of training was key when attending real-life emergencies.
“When you go to a car crash, it’s not like on TV. It’s not exciting, it’s not thrilling, it’s not a place to get wound up. It’s actually an oasis of calm,” Mr Jones said.
She just fell to bits – she had thought she was completely alone.
- Lloyd Jones
“The people around you are professional, all the training kicks in.”
Mr Jones said the peer support was essential.
“You treat it as a job – but it can affect you,” he said.
“We always have a chat after it, within our group, and usually that is enough.”
However, there was additional support available, counselors and psychiatrists, for people getting flashbacks or losing sleep. And Mr Jones acknowledged not everyone can do the job, “ not everyone can cope with seeing a severely injured person or dead body at a crash”.
However, Mr Jones emphasised it wasn’t all death and disaster; sometimes simple jobs brought great satisfaction.
“There was a lovely job I was involved in – a lady with a leaking skylight,” Mr Jones said.
“This lady had lost her husband and her parents, and was looking after her fifteen-year-old down syndrome daughter. She had moved into an apartment as she could no longer manage the property.”
Mr Jones said as they finished the job he put his hand on her shoulder and asked was she okay?
“She just fell to bits – she had thought she was completely alone.” he said.
“I came away from that thinking we really did something there – we changed that woman's whole perception.
“Just by turning up.”
