New rescue boats are on the way for the state emergency service. The extra vessels for the expanded fleet were bought after last year's flood inquiry found the volunteer-run service lacked equipment.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 On the George's River, a dry run of an exercise that is anything but.
00:07 The Premier watches as volunteers demonstrate a procedure they became well acquainted with
00:15 in 2022.
00:16 The SES did 3,800 flood rescues in one year.
00:22 This was the real thing in Lismore.
00:24 But the local SES unit did not have enough boats to get everyone to safety.
00:29 Citizens carried out rescues with their own vessels.
00:32 We just needed more equipment and needed it placed throughout the state.
00:36 The SES has bought an extra 142 boats, rafts, cars and trucks.
00:42 All vehicles will be fitted with 4G and satellite technology so crews can still communicate
00:48 when networks are knocked out.
00:49 They will actually have a node effectively on top of the vehicles that has a wifi signal.
00:54 The purchase of these additional rescue boats was recommended last year by the Independent
00:59 Flood Inquiry which found the SES needed more equipment to respond to emergencies unfolding
01:04 in different parts of the state at the same time.
01:07 Roads were cut, access was cut and we were limited with what we had in the areas at the
01:11 time.
01:12 The first of the new equipment is being deployed to the areas at greatest risk including the
01:17 northern rivers, central west and Hawkesbury.
01:20 But the Lismore Mayor says the local SES unit needs more volunteers.
01:24 We can buy all the boats and the equipment in the world but if we've got no one to operate
01:27 them then we're going to find ourselves in a similar situation.
01:31 The orange clad crews, priceless.
01:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]