Eden State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers and Eden Water Police have combined their expertise to ensure that the Eden community remains in safe hands.
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For the first time ever the two groups completed a simulated recovery of a stretcher from water borne vessel to the deck of the Navy Wharf
A happy group of 18 SES volunteers (14 from Eden and four from Bega) as well as three Eden Water Police met on the navy wharf at 10am on Saturday, March 18, to conduct the joint exercise which also involved reversing the procedure to lower a stretcher to the boats.
Eden SES volunteer Lisa Williams said they trained with two different types of equipment to ensure all members were prepared in all situations.
The two types of equipment used was the older Larkin Frame method and the latest Vortex system which Ms Williams said had only been delivered to the Eden SES unit a couple of weeks ago.
Both systems were set up side by side with the police directing the placement to suit the positioning of their boat which needed to be under the wharf but free of obstructions.
“It was quickly realised that more crew would be needed to safely operate in the boats; so three SES persons were lowered from the now erected systems,” Ms Williams said.
Next a 85kg dummy was lowered using the Vortex onto the police vessel, after which it travelled out from the wharf to transfer to the bigger cat.
That accomplished, the cat came back to wharf and the stretcher was raised to the deck using the Larkin Frame.
“At this point lunch had arrived and so a well earned break was called,” Ms Williams said. “The cheery group appreciated the warm and dry amenities before going out again to do it all again.”
The next site offered much more of a challenge and was only suitable for the new Vortex as it required to be set up on a small ledge and made people think outside of the box.
The crews were forced to adapt to the situation in order to successfully recover the stretcher from the boat and lift it onto the wharf deck once again.
“This was an excellent exercise as it took people out of the normal classroom situation into the real world were nothing fits the textbook,” Ms Williams said. “Everyone took it in their stride and learnt a lot.”
“Cooperation between the two units and police was great and all left for a de-brief with big smiles despite the fact that it had been raining all day and most of us were soaked through.”
Ms Williams congratulated all who took part, saying they worked well together to ensure they were prepared for any future emergencies.