On 16 May Woden SES competed in the ACT SES Rescue competition. Held every two years, this year it was held at the old Mt Neighbour Primary School.

The team was keen and ready to go and had been training for the competition for the previous couple of weeks.

Five stands were undertaken on the day, each different from the last and each one with its own set of challenges.

Woden finished a happy third on the day and should be proud of their efforts.

At the completion of the competition the call came through for assistance with a search on Isaacs Ridge. Woden provided members to assist the AFP, the search was called off around dusk.

Well done to all involved in the day - participants or helpers.

On Friday 27 February we gathered in the morning at the Unit to pack the trailers and prepare all the food / day packs. We fuelled up, had lunch and then headed off to Mt Clear camp ground AKA the 'Pound'.

We arrived shortly about 2:30pm and we quickly set about setting up the base camp and the small tent city.


Dinner was cooked and just after 7pm the rest of the crews turned up. After a briefing and some social drinks we headed off to bed early, for an early start.

The morning welcomed us in a warm way (no fog or coldness). With French Chef Colin' doing his best to make the famous Woden McMuffins (egg, bacon, muffin) we relunctly got on with the morning search exercise (part one). Under the careful direction of Jeff the missing helicopter was located shortly before lunch. A forensic search was conducted around a 100 radius of the crash site.

After having a hearty lunch part two of the exercise got underway. Clues, thoughts and strategies were discussed and found. Part two of the exercise went better and quicker than Pete (exercise controller) had hoped for. With extra time up our sleeves we had a break / sleep for an hour or so before the 'twilight' nav exercise took place. Two teams undertook the challenge that Gary had set us, and thankfully all checkpoints were found (even with the help of a GPS).

Dinner was cooked and after a few social drinks we were spoilt by Michelle's famous damper making. Hopefully she can replicate it next year!

Sunday saw us get up early again, but this time the weather was colder and a early morning fog stayed around until about 8am. Jabba undertook search assessments and the rest of us went for a spot of 4wding with Gary giving some basic tips and showing us how to do a stall recovery. As the morning session finished we were able to pack up quicker than expected and we headed back to Woden Unit. A few of us stayed around for a quick debrief / hot dogs.

Thanks to all who helped out over the weekend and for everyone for making it a great learning fun experience. Next year I've got a few ideas up my sleeve which will see us focus more on navigation. If anyone is interested in helping out for next years camp please come and see me.

Regards,

Adrian Manning

Alex and I were part of the SES contingent in the first ACT Task Force that was deployed on Sunday (2200 on 8.2.2009) to help with the Victorian bushfire emergency. The Task Force consisted of Heavy Tankers and Light Units from the RFS and CAFS units from the urban Fire Brigade, as well as ACTAS paramedics and ESA technical support staff (comms staff and a mechanic). The SES role was to operate the Forward Communication Unit (Pialligo) and provide logistic support for the fire fighting.

We arrived at the Beechworth Staging Area at 0630 on Monday ready to start our 12 hours day shift, while the other half of the contingent went to the hostel accommodation on the La Trobe University campus to get some much needed sleep before their night shift. Alex was our day shift Team Leader, so he set about the task of finding out what was required of us and how we could go about it. We had TUG60 and BEL60 available for transport, and two GP trailers ready with support material such as the drums of the chemical used by the CAFS units.

After a couple of hours the fire crews were dispatched to controlling fires and back-burning around Stanley, a small township about 10 km away. The rest of Monday was fairly quiet for us at the Beechworth SA, mainly because the initial focus was on getting the firefighting effort going around Stanley. After the shift change between 1800 and 1900 we were keen to find our beds after being awake for over 36 hours (if you don’t count a short doze on the overnight bus).

Tuesday was a busier day for us because the fire crews needed things to be re-supplied (e.g. fuel for various equipment) and have things repaired (e.g. punctures). We also deployed to the Stanley SA for the day so we were closer to the action. This was also a good move from a catering perspective because the locals at the Stanley CFA unit were cooking up a storm. Catering at Beechworth also improved on Tuesday when dinners were made available at a local hotel, but a big thanks to the Red Cross volunteers and other locals who continued to provide packed lunches.

Tuesday’s effort also included taking lunches and drinks to the crews on the fire ground, trips back to Beechworth for various things, and trips to Wodonga for things that couldn’t be sourced locally. Alex was particularly busy organizing the logistic support, including sorting out the catering at Beechworth.

On Wednesday we were deployed to a locality (Murmungee) 12 km south of Beechworth. Fire had burnt through large areas of forest, but back-burning was required to ensure there was no risk of it spreading to adjacent farmland. This became a fairly difficult operation because the wind was blowing the back-burn towards un-burnt areas. A ‘hot’ (literally) shift change had to occur in the late afternoon when we transported the night-shift crews in the troopies to their trucks on the fire ground to make a quick change over with the day shift crews. As usual, Alex spent a lot of his day on the phone organizing things, while we ‘gofers’ did the running around, including looking out for spot fires downwind of the back-burning.

Overall it was a very interesting experience, and Alex did a great job as day-shift Team Leader. He certainly enhanced Woden’s reputation for getting the job done. And while we weren’t deployed to the worst affected areas, we came away feeling that we had made a valuable contribution to a big bushfire fighting effort.

On our trip back to Canberra on Thursday I reflected on how fortunate we’d been to make a direct contribution to helping out. But it wouldn’t have been possible without the rest of Woden Unit where we all train together, and the SES organization that supports our Unit and all of the other ACT SES Units. So in various ways, including being just a regular member, we are all contributing to the Victorian bushfire relief, and we should all feel good about the fact that through our combined effort we are all helping out.

Your AdminO

On Saturday 21 March Woden SES Unit, with the help from Tuggeranong and Majura attended SkyFire 21. Woden 60, Woden 61, Woden's Lighting trailer, Flood Rescue Boat one and two were all involved. In Total 24 SES personnel helped out.

As usual Regatta Point proved to be the most popular place, as road blocks were set up around eight check points around the lake.

Total attendance by the public was up on previous years and the fire works they had came to see did not disappoint.

A big thank you to Billie, Ashley, Lochie for making, delivering lunch and dinner. Also to Gordon who put in the long hours to make sure things behind the scene was done before hand.

Well done to all that helped out for making it a smooth, easy operation.

Adrian Manning

Woden members participated with members from Tuggeranong, Belconnen and Gunghalin units in conducting a fund-raising bucket drive at the Canberra Centre. The residents of Canberra really dig deep, and contribute generously to the appeal. Big thumbs up to you Canberra!

Having been impressed with the collection, we returned to Woden base to head home. On arrival, Gordo received a call about a tree job in Griffith. Alex, Michelle, Anthony (from GUN), myself and Jab (as TL) responded.

It was good for me to get some hands own chainsaw experience again (under Alex's watchful eye), whilst Michelle and Anthony (two relative new members) dealth with the roof damage under Jab's tutelage.

All in all, a full and successful days work.