The four-day training session was put together by the Gippsland Emergency Services Committee which, according to District 9 Operations Officer Simon Bloink, works to bring the Gippsland emergency services together.
“Both CFA and SES are seeing real benefits in working closely like this. It helps to break down barriers. Now when people get together at an incident and in the real world they know each other,” Simon said.
“We formed this committee to deal with the ever increasing range of vehicles on the road, to help participants keep up with new car technology as well as each other’s training methods.
“The committee has representatives from CFA, SES, Ambulance Victoria and Victoria Police as well as members from each Road Accident Rescue unit and Brigade in the Wellington, Latrobe City, Baw Baw, South Gippsland and Bass Coast Shire Councils.
“Most of the road accidents in District 9 are attended by both SES and CFA. The Loch, Mirboo North and Fish Creek brigades are all Road Accident Rescue accredited.”
They’ve previously run sessions on liquefied natural gas powered vehicles, how to deal with wire rope barriers and crash scene preservation.
SES trainer and Trafalgar CFA volunteer Andrew Duncan used the recent session to explain the Operational Radio and Dispatch system, and found it useful to get an understanding of everyone’s processes and practices.
“Working, training and socialising together like this brings us closer as a team. It means that you can page the nearest available rescue unit for backup, without having to ask which agency they’re from.
“We had a semi-prime mover operator talk to us about the liquefied natural gas system they’re using in their milk trucks and CFA’s Loch brigade gave a good presentation on the PT Hydraulics Stabfast Stabilisation System.”
The group is already planning its next session that will focus on ESTA and how call taking and dispatch occurs, what goes on behind the scenes and how to filter good information back up from a crash scene.
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