Community
26 February, 2025
Volunteers needed
WITH a recruitment drive on the horizon, Cobden State Emergency Service (SES) are encouraging members of the community to join their team and sign up to be a volunteer, as the unit is at risk at being closed down due to a lack of members.
Western District Newspapers last week reported on the generous donation from Timboon Opportunity Shop to Cobden SES to fund making and posting flyers in support of their recruitment drive.
Cobden SES member of seven years Sue Sartori, previously serving Warrnambool for five years, said low numbers and an ageing demographic are the key reasons for the recruitment drive.
“In 20 years’ time, or maybe even 10, a majority of our members won’t be physically able to be with the SES anymore to volunteer,” she said.
“The unit can’t operate without members.
“If this unit closed, and that’s a possibility if we don’t have enough members, we’d have units coming from Camperdown, Colac, Warrnambool and Port Campbell, which is a greater distance they’d have to travel and it’d take them longer to get to a car accident or to take a tree off the road so no one hits it.
“It’s for the community’s benefit that we have the unit open.”
Ms Sartori said she thinks there are some common misconceptions about volunteering with the SES that can be clarified through doing a proper recruitment drive and putting out a leaflet.
“A lot of people don’t realise what we do,” she said.
“First of all, they think they get paid, and secondly, they think that they have to be available 24 hours a day – which helps – but we don’t expect people to go to every job.
“If they’re at work, or they’re on holidays, or they’re just having a hard time and can’t get there, that’s fine.”
Ms Sartori has been an active volunteer in the community for a long time and said it’s been a “wonderful learning experience”.
“I’d always volunteered for my children’s schools right from the time they were in kindergarten,” she said.
“After going through breast cancer treatment and being a single mum, I felt the need to give back.
“I had two other volunteer jobs at the time as well as a full-time business.
“I thought, ‘You’ve only got one life, what else can I do’?
“It was the best thing I ever did, just to get me out after the trauma and around people, learning new things.”
Fellow members Dick Tracey and John Brewer also have a long history with the SES, having served 12 years and 47 years respectively.
“Bushfires made me want to join the SES,” Mr Tracey said.
“I moved here and had only been here for a couple of years when the area was hit by bad bushfires and they were struggling.
“I just thought, ‘I’ll come and give them a hand’, and here I am.”
Mr Brewer said he had a similar experience.
“I was asked to join, back when I was working full time,” he said.
“I thought, ‘Yeah, I’ll come along, see what it’s like’, and 47 years later I’m still here.”
Currently, the Cobden SES unit has only nine active members.
Ideally, five-to-six members are needed to be sent out to each emergency call.
Ms Sartori said in cases of storm work, they can be out all night.
“We’ll have up to 30 jobs coming within a few hours,” she said.
“If we can have both vehicles out and we can delegate jobs, we get through those a lot faster, we also get those trees off the road because the milk tankers can’t get through in the morning, buses can’t get through either.
“Also, there’s a risk of cars coming along around the corner and hitting the tree, which could be life-threatening.
“The more members we’ve got out on that road, the better.”
Ms Sartori said volunteers are necessary and noted Cobden is already a fantastic volunteering community.
“We go to a road crash and the SES and Country Fire Authority (CFA) are there, and we’re not paid to go there, but we’ll be there any time of the day or night,” she said.
“I don’t think people realise how essential we are to the community – we keep a lot of things running.
“I think the volunteer part, because they’re not doing it for money, there’s a passion, there’s a different passion to what there is for someone that’s doing a job purely for income.
“It’s wonderful and it comes back to you in spades, just to think that you have helped people and that you’ve saved lives.”
The SES will not only provide you with regular training but also give you the chance to bond with fellow members of the community.
“People can expect camaraderie within the SES, we get on really well, it’s almost like another family,” Ms Sartori said.
“We not only work together on really serious jobs, but we communicate and we care about one another.
“We trust one another with our lives, that’s a big part of it.”
For anyone nervous about the work involved, Ms Sartori wanted to reassure them they’ll never be alone.
“We never send people out as individuals on a job,” she said.
“There’s formal training, you’re updated with first aid every year, do a full course every three years, but on the job, you’ll always have experienced members with you, especially on a road crash job.
“We’ve had members join that have had a particular trauma in their life and they don’t wish to attend road crash which is fine, we’ve got no problem with that.
“I think with anything in life, you just learn as you go and you turn it into what you want it to be.
“You learn as you go.”
Ms Sartori said everyone has something they can offer, and everyone is welcome at Cobden SES.
“Everyone has different gifts that they can contribute and different specialities,” she said.
“We all do different trades and have different stories to our lives and that’s how you contribute to what we do here.
“You don’t have to be able to do everything and there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Cobden SES will be at the Cobden Vintage Rally on Saturday, March 8 as a part of their recruitment campaign.
Interested volunteers should visit the SES unit in Cobden or contact 1300 842 737.