Gisborne Brigade Captain Sam Strang recently welcomed a delegation from the Chinese Central Government, here to study how emergency management is undertaken in Australia at local, state and national levels.
Before arriving in Melbourne, they had visited state and local government emergency management facilities in Queensland, the ACT and New South Wales.
Being the last day of their Australian visit, the Delegates were keen to see the 'pointy end' of emergency management and visited both the CFA and SES stations in Gisborne where they were shown the equipment and facilities of both organisations. Following quite an intense question and answer session on a wide range of topics, Captain Strang presented each Member of the Delegation with a copy of 'Two-O-Two, a History of the Gisborne Fire Brigade' and a Gisborne Brigade woven patch.
The delegation then moved on for an introduction to the Gisborne Incident Control Centre. Mountain Group Comms Officer Ian Large gave an outline of the role and objectives of the ICC, how the various AIIMS roles interact and how the ICC operates in conjunction with response units in the field.
In a letter of thanks to Captain Strang, the delegation organiser said that that the visit to local level emergency management facilities may well lead to a shift in China’s approach to emergency management which is currently largely focused on activities at national and provincial levels.
Author: District 2 News