The Armadale State Emergency Service (SES) will be holding their first Open Day, hoping to increase public awareness of their valuable activities.
A volunteer organisation with 28 members, Armadale’s SES serves a variety of different functions in order to address emergencies, including missing person searches, natural disaster relief and more.
They follow DFES guidelines in their operations and train every Wednesday.
Members have served in missions beyond the City of Armadale, and even Perth, often in a supplementary capacity to relieve exhausted staff who have been tending to an issue for a long period already.
Ron Stroet, a 30-year veteran of the SES, described his remarkable career with the organisation in vivid detail.
He says it all began with a strongly felt inner drive to support the community he called, and continues to call, home.
“That’s what it really was, a desire to help and give back. I’ve been here a long time now, and I’ve always felt that connection,” he said.
“I’m retired now, so I can more easily devote a lot of time to the SES. Previously, in my working life, I was in the public sector, doing a variety of things. I was fortunate, because my boss never had an issue with me going out to answer emergency calls.”
Over the years, Mr Stroet has had a wide array of experiences and adventures. Thrilling, frightening, joyful, sad, he says he’s seen, and felt, it all.
“The job can be tough emotionally but still rewarding. When you do searches for people and you find them, that’s a really good outcome. Unfortunately, you also do find some that are deceased. It’s sad, but we bring closure to the family. The toughest outcome is when you never locate a missing person,” he said.
“Some great experiences are when we can help communities after they’ve had a big storm go through the town, and we are able to go in there and help those people when they’re in a time of need. They’ve got a lot of wreckage; they’ve got roofs off and serious flooding. The way I see it, it’s very hard not to sort of want to get in and help.
“It’s so great to show them that people care, and it makes us feel that our job is, as a volunteer, worth it.”
The team has come a long way now since its beginnings over 45 years ago, starting its life operating from a local house and using a station wagon as the emergency vehicle.
Today, they boast several better suited vehicles, as well as a two-storey headquarters in Kelmscott with a garage.
Mr Stroet credits the team’s success to camaraderie, with a strong shared feeling among the SES’ rank-and-file, forged through mutual dependence and trust in some truly difficult scenarios.
“Honestly, just working with a good bunch of people, you know, the team at Armadale are just really wonderful people and we all get on well, and that makes it rewarding.
“I think it’s important that you can count on one another when you’re with a group of people and you get caught out in adverse conditions, you know, because a lot of times it’s wet, it’s raining, it’s cold, it’s dark or it’s late at night. I know that the people in our unit can be depended upon, like when we helped deal with the Fitzroy Crossing flood that destroyed the bridge.
“We can have a laugh, but we can be serious when we need to be, and that’s what’s important. So yeah, I trust my team members. 100%.”
Mr Stroet says that he has so many stories he barely knows where to start in telling them, but one, the story of his first search and rescue, still plays on his mind.
“I still remember doing that search for an elderly lady who was lost in the Byford area during cold weather. We found her in a nasty state but were able to put her into a blanket and stretcher and then carry her out of the bush and into the ambulance. She was ultimately okay, despite having been out for a night or two, but it does still stick with me,” he said.
Mr Stroet says the SES wants to show the public what they are about and how they operate. The communications room, operations room and vehicles will all be open to viewing by attendees. It is a family friendly event, with several child-focused activities on offer. Additionally, several Armadale SES members will be in attendance, ready to answer the public’s questions about them.
Largely dependent on donations for its essential service, the Armadale SES welcomes public support.
The Open Day will occur on the Saturday May 16, from 10am to 2pm, at 53 Owen Rd Kelmscott.
