WHILE attending a routine call-out to a fallen tree on Wednesday night, Bendigo SES volunteers were met with abuse from a member of the public.
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Unit Controller Natalie Stanway said the crew were removing a fallen tree at about 5pm in Longlea.
She said the wood was very hard, making it slow and heavy going on the chainsaw, taking an hour and a half to clear the road.
Ms Stanway said the person riding a motorised bike decided to ignore their request to slow down and stop.
She said the person cycled through the roadblock at excessive speed and got dangerously close to the chainsaw operator.
"Most vehicles turned around when they saw us but this one person was coming along the road and we thought he would turn around or wait but he actually started to speed up and as he went right behind our chainsaw operator," she said.
"He was yelling at us, it become quite apparent that he was calling us a selection of names and stopped up the road and started yelling at us again to the point where we thought we would need police assistance."
Ms Stanway said the person didn't understand how serious the situation was.
"We tried to stop him from going through that scene and we were fortunate he didn't startle our chainsaw operator," she said.
"We had a very alert crew that prevented anything like that from happening but it's unsafe and not wise for someone to be that close to someone operating a chainsaw.
"Respect is an element but our main concern is safety and he had no concern for our safety but no concern for his own."
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