2009 was a year of ups and downs that started with storms and then moved seamlessly in to bushfires.

 

A crew from Rivers was refilling aircraft with aerial flame retardant when the news came through fires down south in Victoria started to turn nasty and the days were each getting hotter and drier. A week later, on a blisteringly hot Saturday, the ACT declared that it was sending its first taskforce in to Victoria to help out, after a series of firestorms razed whole towns and villages in Victoria to the ground and there were no signs of it slowing. Comprised of bush fire fighters, urban fire fighters, SES, Ambulance, ESA mechanics and ESA information and communications technology support, our taskforces were self-contained and self-sustaining.

 

It was on task force 3 (aka taskforce Charlie) that one of the members, an urban fire fighter, was tragically killed by a falling tree, while fighting fire in the middle of a massive and ancient forest. In all, the ACT sent down 6 taskforces down to Victoria. Rivers Bushfire Brigade and Rivers SES Unit joined forces to raise money for the Victorian bushfire in March at our local shopping centre, Cooleman Court and thanks to the overwhelming support of its patrons and shoppers, we managed to raise about $8,000 in one day! Good job folks and shoppers of Weston Creek.

 

From an operational perspective, things quietened down somewhat after the excitement and drama of the Victorian bushfires, with only the odd search and the odd storm & water damage operation dotting the calendar for the rest of the year. While no SES person wishes ill on anybody, a lack of operational callouts tends to make the average SES vollie a bit fidgety and somewhat frustrated, and was somewhat the case at Rivers Unit.

 

Our Unit membership hit 29 by the middle of the year and our training calendar was full. A good portion of our members also became qualified bushfire fighters (not because we want to actually fight fires, but because it was apparently prerequisite for doing airbase operations) and there was a fun joint training weekend with Rivers Bushfire Brigade in October. We lost and gained a Commissioner for ESA and also a ACTSES Chief Officer.

 

Plans were made and approved for a new facility at Rivers Shed that will hopefully improve life out at Rivers for everybody, and the first soil is expected to be turned in March, which is very exciting! ESA is slowly starting to migrate out to Fairbairn from its premises at Curtin, which isn’t nearly so exciting and not many of us at Rivers are looking forward to it. Check your oil and water for a visit to SES HQ this time next year... arrghhh...

 

Thanks also to everybody who contributed to the Unit in 2009! There are no paid members in Rivers SES Unit and we are only able to forge ahead with the support and contribution of our members. We also have a few key people who put in a lot of extra work outside normal SES time to help make things work!

 

Of course, it would be remiss of us not to mention the website, which just keeps getting better and better! The Rivers Unit website was developed by National PC and is maintained free of cost for the Unit by them. Thank you National PC!

 

Below is a bit of a summary to show how we spent some of our time in 2009:

 

 Notes:

* Approximate time

** Hours in the field only; does not include planning, preparation or post-operation activities

*** Thursday Night is the regular training night for the ACTSES

 

That was about it for 2009.

 

Merry New Year to all our readers! May the road rise up to meet you all!

 

Vicki Munslow

Commander

Rivers Unit

ACT State Emergency Service