Earlier this year, there was a significant weather event that passed through the Mitchell and Macedon shire areas.
Two storms passed through the area within hours of each other, with wind and rain damaging buildings, bringing down power lines and a large number of trees and branches.
As the local SES was inundated with calls for help which exceeded the capacity of the local unit members, a request was made for CFA personnel to assist, and brigades in the SES Kilmore Unit’s area responded.
As the jobs kept stacking up, local SES Controller Steve Caddies prioritised and allocated the jobs accordingly. As the SES was equipped to tackle building damage, its members took on these jobs while the local CFA brigades removed trees and branches from roads ensuring traffic could flow, and then moved into impacted residential properties.
As the situation escalated and there were numerous brigades helping SES, a CFA member was sent to the local SES incident centre to act as a liaison for CFA.
Towards the end of the first storm, the SES lost power at its local headquarters and, without an alternative power supply, it was decided to move the operational command function to the Kilmore Local Command Facility, as it had a generator.
With the change of venue complete, it was back to the task at hand. Overall, there were 118 RFAs (requests for assistance) completed by all involved.
The storms highlighted how SES and CFA can help each other and, more importantly, how the LCF can be used by several agencies.