The NSW SES Wellington Unit has hosted one of the NSW State Emergency Service’s biggest training events of the year- Wellington Wombats.
More than 100 NSW SES volunteers converged on the Central West to learn cave rescue and vertical rescue techniques, demonstrating that the NSW SES’s capability extends far beyond its role as the combat agency for floods, storms and tsunami.
Wellington Wombats has been held annually since 1994 and is one of the biggest training events on the NSW SES calendar.
It’s held at the Wellington Caves complex, a group of limestone caves south of Wellington, on the NSW Western Plains.
NSW SES Western Zone Commander, Chief Superintendent Brigid Rice, said the exercise was one of the first opportunities for volunteers across the state to get together since last year’s unprecedented series of flood events.
At Wellington Wombats, not only do volunteers get to learn new skills, but they also get to meet, connect and share stories with other volunteers around the state, after a huge year responding to the flood crisis.