Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, Victorian SES volunteers turn out to some of the worst emergencies.
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Volunteers - together with other emergency services - assist with bush searches, rescues, flood and weather events and car crashes.
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They are there to help, assist and protect the community.
From train derailments to plane crashes
Bendigo SES deputy controller Natalie Stanway and Bendigo member Darren Masters have, collectively, close to 20 years of experience in the service.
The devastation of the Black Saturday fires drove Natalie to join the Bendigo unit in 2009. Since then she has responded to a number of incidents, from floods to fires, even crashes.
"I was prompted by the 2009 Black Saturday fires and I lived in the Yarra Valley at the time. I was just so impressed with what the emergency agencies were doing," she said.
"I looked for things I could do and I saw the SES was helping out in a different way and I thought that was something I could do."
Fast forward 12 years and Natalie is now deputy controller and community advocator for the unit.
"My experience within the SES has opened up many doors and avenues for me," she said.
"I now do lots of volunteering for road trauma services in Victoria and speak at awareness services. I recently took over as chair for Road Safe Victoria."
I have a passion for the education of the community and I want to make our roads safer.
- Natalie Stanway
The past 18 months have been different, to say the least.
While COVID-19 brought the rest of the world to a halt, SES volunteers found themselves grinding on as though nothing had changed.
"We unfortunately can't stop our response because of a pandemic and we are still required to get out there and help the community and we just have to do it in the safest way as we possibly can," Natalie said.
"We are really vigilant with our COVID-safe practices in terms of our PPE and masks when we are going out to jobs.
"We just rely on the training we received and get on with the job.
"We don't really have time to get caught up with COVID.
"We do ask people before we attend if there has been exposure to COVID but with things like car accidents it's a little more tricky to get information.
"We always wear our PPE though and always wear our masks."
Central Victoria boasts many SES units, something Natalie said was amazing.
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"I think it's essential that regional communities have a strong SES group and we are lucky enough to have many people who are resilient in the (Bendigo) community," she said.
"We are lucky to have units close by that also assist such as Castlemaine, Heathcote and Marong and we all help and assist each other."
Helping and assisting regional communities
For Bendigo SES unit member Darren Masters, signing up was a way to reconnect with his much-loved community.
Prompted to join after seeing the SES involvement in the 2010/11 floods, Darren said after seven years of volunteering he still enjoys meeting new faces and helping new people.
"I really enjoy meeting new people and getting to learn lots of different things and undergo lots of unique experiences," he said.
"There are lots of opportunities to learn and participate in, lots of learning opportunities.
"We undertake a number of different tasks such as land searches and we did one of those this week.
"We love to be able to help the community when they need us."
Darren didn't start volunteering until he was in his 40s but he sees his role with the volunteer group as a way to give back to the community.
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"I originally got involved with the 2010/11 floods with another agency and I saw the remarkable work the SES was doing, giving up their time to help their community," he said.
"I saw that and I explored the opportunities to be part of the SES and it has been a remarkable experience."
One great thing about volunteering for SES, Darren said, was the ability to help and assist neighboring units.
"We have helped out with the storms down in Trentham and metro areas and helped out with removing trees down there as well," he said.
"We also have deployments to different areas, some have done deployments to Queensland and I recently got back from Cyclone Seroja in WA and helped out with the efforts over there.
It's just a great opportunity to do those types of things and get experiences you thought you would never get, it's a fantastic thing to do for not only yourself but your community
- Darren Masters
Saying thanks to family, friends and employers
Together, Natalie and Darren wanted to thank the public.
Natalie said SES volunteers wouldn't be able to do the work they do if it wasn't for the patience and assistance of loved ones.
"Without the support of our families, we wouldn't be able to do what we do," she said.
"Without the support of our employers also, it would be really hard, they let us leave and attend to the needs of our community.
"We just want to say thank you."
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