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Over the past weekend volunteer members of the State Emergency Service invaded Walgett Showground. More than fifty rescue personnel came together to practice their skills to maintain the high standards required for road rescue operations. Units included Walgett, Lightning Ridge, Glengarry, Baradine, Dubbo, Wellington, Gilgandra, Tenterfield, Gunnedah and Deepwater as well as Wollongong State Headquarters and Macquarie Division Headquarters
Local Controller for the SES Mr Steve Martin said: “In our country areas the SES is frequently responsible for primary road crash rescue. Our volunteers spend hundreds of hours training for this role. This weekend brought the top rescue teams, trainers and assessors together.”
Mr Martin went on to say “Some of the more experienced rescuers were also being assessed to train and qualify other road crash rescuers in their area.”
An exercise was also carried out to simulate night rescue conditions including the use of floodlighting and associated hazards.
Walgett Unit Controller, Kate Hook said: “The weekend has been an all-round success. Hosting this amount of people could only be possible with some very welcome assistance: the communities of Walgett, Carinda and surrounding areas for donating a total of eighteen vehicles to use in the exercise, Walgett Shire Council for the venue, Queensland Cotton and Kellys Rural Service for the use of their transport for vehicle collection, Learning and Development Officer Tony Pinelli for the hours of preparation, the members of Walgett Rescue Unit who spent many hours setting up and then cleaning up the site, but importantly the Walgett RSL Women’s Auxiliary catering for the hungry hordes. There are many volunteers in the community that pull together when needed and they deserve all the recognition we can give them for a job well done.”
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