By Oliver Winn
State Emergency Services (SES) all around the country celebrated Wear Orange Wednesday (WOW) on 21 May to acknowledge the invaluable and life-saving work done by our emergency service volunteers.
Upper Yarra SES unit controller Hannah Brunton said the day recognised the exhaustive list of things that SES volunteers do to make sure the SES can continue to save lives around the state.
“They answer the phone to us at all hours of the night, they interrupt their own personal time to help us. It recognises our volunteers as well who do everything from balancing the books and cutting people out of cars, so it’s a nice day to recognise the contributions that everybody makes,” Ms Brunton said.
Held in the middle of National Volunteer Week, people around the Yarra Ranges wore orange clothing, attended orange themed morning teas and banners were put up to celebrate the day.
This year’s WOW fell on the 50 year anniversary of VICSES in March which made it much more significant for SES volunteers around the state.
Ms Brunton said the day also helped educate the public on what the SES specialised in and helped create more visibility to help with fundraising.
“Lots of people don’t understand what makes us different to the other emergency services. The levels of training that we have to undertake to be able to do what we do is massive. I think it’s also great for more visibility, which helps with increasing funding and it might encourage people to volunteer with us,” she said.
In the Dandenong Ranges and the Yarra Ranges, the SES’s efforts during the June 2021 extreme weather events directly impacted the outcomes of thousands of lives.
VICSES received 10,300 requests for assistance across the state and the Emerald SES had attended 438 calls for help in one night.
The VICSES’s remarkable rescue efforts during the June 2021 storms is just one example of the invaluable services it provides.
This year, Ms Brunton only wore an orange tie and socks in a “subtle celebration” but still felt extremely grateful for the volunteers she worked with every day.
“We all have lives and families and jobs. Our people are farmers and business owners and nurses, all of these people have lives outside of SES, yet they still find the time to sacrifice to come and help the community when needed.”
The local knowledge of SES volunteers is crucial for when a rescue is underway, and it’s the sacrifices made by locals to help the SES that can be the difference between life or death.
Ms Brunton recalled a search for a missing person which had stumped police – it was a perfect example of how the local knowledge of community volunteers is irreplaceable.
The only lead the police had for the missing person’s whereabouts was a screenshot from a video call, yet that was all it took for the local SES volunteers to locate the person.
“They were able to take the police to exactly where that missing person was standing. So to me that was a really proud moment because it really highlighted the need for local knowledge.”
“The outcome of that search may have been different if we didn’t have those people there on that night.”
She hoped WOW would help convince more people to volunteer for the SES and make a contribution to the community.
“There is a role for everyone and people may not realise that.”
