To celebrate State Emergency Service (SES) Week, which kicked off on August 24 and wraps up August 31, we wanted to shine a light on some of the incredible volunteers.
Meet Britney Smithers and Ryan Whiteman, two of the Deputy Group Leaders (DGL) of Nambour SES, Sunshine Coast Unit.
Let’s learn a little more about them and their unforgettable experiences as SES volunteers.
Meet Britney Smithers
Britney has been volunteering with the SES for over three years.
Britney’s role as DGL sees her helping to onboard new members, ensuring they are happy, comfortable and feel safe at the group.
One of Britney’s most memorable experiences as an SES volunteer happened a couple years ago when members of the Sunshine Coast Unit went to a job at a veteran’s house, his roof was in “shambles” and leaked heavily every time it rained.
The group had visited the veteran’s house a number of times to patch things up, but they decided to volunteer their time over a whole weekend to tarp his entire roof. A huge job!
After tarping the roof, the community came together and offered to replace the man’s roof.
It was moving to Britney that so many people, who were essentially strangers to this man, simply wanted to help.
“This had a huge impact on me seeing when our community comes together, what we can achieve,” said Britney.
“These are people that I get to meet in SES, these are the people that I get to help in disasters and the reason why I love doing what I do.”
Meet Ryan Whiteman
Ryan has been volunteering with SES for five years.
As Deputy Group Leader, he creates and coordinates weekly training sessions, unit-wide exercises and ensures members are kept up with competency maintenance to ensure they’re ready for anything, anytime.
Thanks to his experience and skills learned through SES, including First Aid and CPR training, Ryan has been able to save someone’s life not once, but twice.
On one occasion he performed life-saving measures on an infant having an allergic reaction, whilst another incident involved a search and rescue.
Ryan was involved in an urgent land search for a missing teen girl who needed medication.
Ryan and his leader arrived and were second of scene, so they formed a team with a few people and started the search. They called out tirelessly and searched relentlessly in hopes of hearing a response.
The search stretched into nighttime and after yelling out for “what felt like forever” they heard a faint response from the girl. Ryan and his team leader needed to climb up a mountainside to rescue the girl.
“It was a test of our strength, and we eventually made it to the top. Luckily, we had made it in time, because she was on a very, very steep cliff edge. Talk about right time, right place,” said Ryan.
“Being able to help the community in their time of need, it’s satisfying and gives a sense of fulfilment. Also being able to connect with so many different people, you form bonds that last a life and make amazing friends along the way.”
Did You Know?
SES is a vital volunteer-based, community emergency support service.
There are approximately 5, 000 across Queensland, our ‘Orange Army’ of SES volunteers are always ready to respond to emergencies, no matter the time or place or conditions.
They provide emergency and rescue services to communities impacted by natural disasters and emergencies.
Additionally, they assist local councils and the community with non-life-threatening emergency situations during floods, storms or other local, State and National disasters and emergencies.
SES transitioned to become a service within Queensland Police Service on June 3.
