SES needs volunteers

Elliott Heads SES volunteers Larry Grove, Ruth Mansfield and Noel Strohmeyer are looking for more members to join their unit.

Darryn Smith

THE Elliott Heads SES is facing an extreme shortage of volunteers.

It is often only able to find three or four members to help in a call out.

Elliott Heads SES group leader and instructor Noel Strohmeyer said the group needed about another 10 members to help ease the load of the volunteers.

“With the current numbers it means that people may have to wait longer to get help if we are dealing with other problems,” he said.

Mr Strohmeyer said anyone who joined would be provided with training to ensure they are able to help in an emergency.

“We don’t put them in dangerous situations to start with. You start with the training aspects and you go through induction,” he said.

“To get to that community level, it’s basic CPR and a safety course.”

Once trained, the types of jobs on which SES members in Elliott Heads are called, vary.

“It could be leaks through roofs on houses but it’s also other things,” Mr Strohmeyer said.

“The other could be if a person was missing, it’s a police matter but they might need help searching.”

Mr Strohmeyer said the call times were never convenient, but that just added to the fun.

“They are never just on tea time. They seem to be either while you are eating dinner or at 2am,” he said.

Mr Strohmeyer said the SES may also give you the opportunity to travel.

“It’s not just staying in Elliott Heads. You can go places like Charleville in floods,” he said.

However, Elliott Heads SES volunteers rarely venture far outside of the area as their numbers are so few.

The Elliott Heads SES trains every second Tuesday night at the Innes Park SES Shed and every fourth Tuesday at the Elliott Heads SES Shed. To become an SES volunteer visit www.emergency.qld.gov.au/ses or call 4131 3700.