Young State Emergency Service Unit Controller Chris Duffey and member Todd Richens recently travelled to Penrith to take part in some important training.
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The pair attended the NSW SES Level One Flood Training at the Penrith White Water Stadium back in September and Mr Duffey said it was not for the faint of heart.
“It was great,” Todd said. “Exhausting but a lot of fun.”
“The main idea of the course was that if we were standing on the edge of a bank and someone falls in or if we fall in we know how to get ourselves out of trouble,” Mr Duffey said.
According to Todd a number of other members from the Young SES branch have already signed up to complete the same training at the end of the month while Todd is looking at completing his Level Three Water Tech training which will mean he will be donning a water protective suit and jumping in raging ‘flood’ waters to safely help people who have fallen or are stuck or stranded in flood waters.
Though Young may be in drought at the moment the region can rest assured when the rains do come with the Young Branch now working on their training.
“When the drought ends it floods,” Mr Duffey said. “Young and Cootamundra have lots of causeways that flood really quick and that’s when people get into trouble. They drive in them and decide to get out of their cars and that’s when they end up in trouble.”
Mr Duffey and Todd have completed their Level One training which taught them how to safely extricate others or themselves if they happen to land in flood water.
“It is a very demanding course,” Mr Duffey said. “It looks simple, they showed us this video beforehand and it looked simple, but when you’re actually in the water and you’re actually bouncing off concrete and stuff like that it is a very, very demanding course.”
Mr Duffey said level one of the training is for up on banks, level two is for safely driving boats through flood waters and level three is for those who are brave enough to get in the water to rescue people out of cars etc.
The Young branch of the SES is always on the lookout for new members. Anyone who would like to join the team where they will receive training and enjoy socialising is more than welcome to speak to members to find out more information.
