Saviours in the bright orange kit
State Emergency Service acting area co-ordinator Colin Neil is busy preparing his volunteers for another summer of helping out the community
LOOK for the helpers. In this age of seemingly never-ending natural disasters, it is comforting to remember that for every flood and fire, there are so many volunteers ready and willing to put their lives on the line in aid of others.
And, lucky for us, these helpers are not hard to find.
In fact, they are very hard to miss – simply look for the bright orange uniform of the State Emergency Service.
For South Eastern Region acting area controller Colin Neil, he has taken this silverlining ethos a step further . . . he does not only look for the helpers, he looks after them.
Co-ordinating almost 1000 volunteers in a disaster response region that covers the local government areas of the Gold Coast, Logan, Scenic Rim, Ipswich and Somerset, Colin is bracing for what is set to be a terribly busy time of year.
Because for the SES, summer is the scary season.
With the third consecutive La Nina event set to hit our shores this year, he and his team are braced for impact.
“You never know where it’s going to hit or who will be affected so you just have to have your team ready at all times,” says Colin from his Ormeau office. “We’re always hoping that whatever disaster m a y come, it
doesn’t strike somewhere like the Gold Coast, where the population density is so high. We’ve been lucky so far. But eventually, everyone’s luck runs out.”
When Colin joined the SES 13 years ago, it was a baptism not of fire but by flood.
Helping to co-ordinate the response to the 2010-11 Brisbane deluge disaster, he quickly realised it took a certain type to work with the SES. Indeed, as much as the service is always looking for new volunteers, Colin advises caution before raising your hand to help.
“This can be dangerous work. But it’s not just the physical impact that can be difficult but the emotional and mental strain as well,” he says.
“You do have to recover people who have passed away ... that is never easy. Seeing those bodies is never pleasant for anyone.
“But for some people, it affects them much more than others. There is nothing wrong with that at all, but you need to know when it’s too much.
“We don’t want to hurt people who are just trying to help.
“That’s why we encourage prospective volunteers to really think about this.
“It’s a commitment that should not be taken lightly.
“Their families can suffer as well, their loved ones are out all night, they miss major events, they are potentially putting their own lives on the line ... even though we mitigate the risk as much as we can.
“It’s also quite a lot of dedication. It’s four to five hours of training per week, plus a lot of courses they need to do.
“As much as we welcome new volunteers, you learn to be wary – especially after major events. People are inspired to help, just like they saw others help, but unfortunately most of them don’t stay too long once the reality sets in.
“What we try to do is to tell people what it’s really like. People come in and think they’ll be in a flood boat the next day conducting rescues but the reality is that you spend a lot of time waiting with nothing
happening,
It’s not just the physical impact that can be difficult but the emotional and mental as well COLIN NEIL
and then it’s all hands on deck around the clock.”
Colin says another difficult part of the job is meeting the expectations of the public, even those who they are assisting.
He says while the vast majority of people are nothing but grateful, the stressful nature of disasters mean tempers can easily be frayed.
He says SES volunteers must prioritise rescues as best they can in the midst of emergencies.
“Most people understand, but some have to realise we can’t do everything at once, we’re not miracle workers,” he says.
“Every volunteer works their absolute hardest and I believe we have a system that works well. What’s difficult is after the event when everyone has the benefit of hindsight and the luxury of time to say how things could have been done better.
“I don’t think it’s fair to point the finger.”
Colin’s comments come after the NSW State Emergency Services defended the work of volunteers in the wake of the flood inquiry report.
The August 2022 report into the state’s devastating floods found the volunteer body was “unprepared” to respond to large-scale disasters, failing to warn and protect communities.
NSW SES Commissioner Carlene York rebutted the use of the word “failure”, while Woodburn SES commander Ashley Slapp said he was disappointed at the negativity in the report, saying that members of his team "worked around the clock" – like many other volunteers across the state.
But Colin, whose own team helped make up those volunteers, says the SES still has it better than the Bureau of Meteorology.
“I think the service we provide is pretty incredible, and it is all down to our volunteers who put the community before themselves,” he says.
“The ones I really feel sorry for are the Bureau of Meteorology.
“They pretty much just have to forecast the absolute worst or else people will blame them for not enough warning. Of course, when they predict something that then doesn’t happen, they cop it for fearmongering.
“I think people sometimes forget that with all of these services, everyone is doing the absolute best that they can with the tools that they have.”
Speaking of tools, Colin says that while councils and the SES are encouraging residents to be ready for the storm season, it is proving harder than usual to be prepared.
He says from Covid to the war in Ukraine, supplies are in short, well, supply.
“Stock up on what you can, when you can ... because it’s not easy, which is a worry when you’re coming up to summer,” he says.
“We’re finding it hard to get even simple things like batteries for chainsaws – apparently the factory was bombed in Ukraine. Don’t wait until it’s an emergency, get prepared now.”
However, Colin says after witnessing the devastation of floods in Brisbane, northern NSW and Victoria, it is time to take action to prevent further devastation.
“I do think it’s time to look at our planning, The Gold Coast is lucky that it doesn’t have the issues that somewhere like Lismore does, but we do need to do all we can to mitigate damage. Having been in so many flood zones, the destruction is terrible. Everything stinks, the mud is just everywhere, there is so little to salvage,: he says.
“Everything is affected – cars, houses, furniture, it’s all just mud and slush and sewerage. To go through that once is horrific. But two, three and even four times ... those poor people just want to give up.”
But that is why it is important to look for the helpers. And thank goodness for the SES.
We can’t do everything at once, we’re not miracle workers