The Brimbank SES unit is turning 40 this year.
The unit will celebrate its service to the community on April 30, with an anniversary event open to the public.
Phil Jordan, who has been involved with the unit since it began in 1982, credited the amazing work of the members of the Brimbank unit who all volunteer their time to help.
“The community is great and they are really grateful for the service we give although a message that hasn’t gotten out to a lot of people is that all our volunteers are exactly that, volunteers,”’ he said.
“They are not paid for their work, not paid for their time and they give up all their time away from their families and job sometimes depending on the amount of work that’s on.”
Speaking about the 40 year journey, Mr Jordan who has held positions as unit controller and deputy controller, said the unit had changed over the years.
“It’s changed a great deal, the equipment that’s supplied now, the protective clothing that’s supplied now has 100 per cent improved since we had those when we first started,” he said.
One Christmas sticks out the most to him and many other volunteers.
“The highlight of course is the Christmas hail storm we had in 2011,” he said.
“We had over 2500 calls for assistance from the community in that event and that went on for probably two or three months before we finally cleared up all the jobs.
“I would say that‘s the biggest event we have had.”
SES members train once a week and are often called out to work during bad weather or overnight when no tradies are working.
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Max Hatzoglou
