Ultimate heroes: SES and CFS volunteers are on call all the time 24/7

ANTHONY Richardson acknowledges he has a “very understanding wife” ... the Port Broughton resident can be called upon at any time to rush to a scene of extreme danger.

Port Broughton SES volunteer Anthony Richardson with his daughters Charlotte, Stephanie and Emily with CFS volunteer Luke Wilden with his daughter Aurora and son Tarquin. Picture: Mark Brake

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ANTHONY Richardson acknowledges he has a “very understanding wife”.

At any time of the day and night, the Port Broughton resident can be called upon to rush to scene of a car crash to help extract victims, pack and stack sandbags to protect homes from flooding or remove fallen trees from roads to clear safe passage.

Mr Richardson, 34, is one of SA’s 1600 SES volunteers who responded to an average of 140 incidents a day during 2015/16, or 7272 for the year.

The CFS was also kept busy during the last financial year, with its almost 13,400 volunteers attending an average 174 incidents each day — or 9047 for the 12 months.

The figures for both organisations rose from the previous year with the SES attending 5236 during 2014/15 and the CFS responding to 8517 jobs.

To thank our volunteers, The Advertiser and Statewide Super are partnering to provide free one-year digital subscriptions to The Advertiser for all CFS and SES volunteers from today.

“It’s very eye-opening, just how much you’re needed,” Mr Richardson said.

“If a unit wasn’t there, what would happen?”

Mr Richardson, who also works fulltime at Nyrstar’s Port Pirie smelter, said it was his “very understanding wife” Beth who enabled him to join the Port Broughton SES unit 18 months ago.

“If you don’t volunteer for these services, you lose these services,” he said.

“The majority of the call-outs have been at night-time (and Beth) looks after the kids.

“When the floods came in (in September) it was pretty demanding — there were a few days in a row where we weren’t really home.”

The couple’s children, Emily, 4, Stephanie, 3 and Charlotte, 14 months, were also used to their dad dashing out the door to do his bit for the community.

“Whenever I have to go out, they ask where you’re going and I just ‘someone needs daddy’s help’,” he said. “They understand.”

CFS firefighter Luke Wilden’s children Tarquin, 5, and Aurora, 3, think their dad is a bit of a hero.

The 31-year-old Port Broughton resident has been a volunteer firefighter for about 13 years.

He joined up after he and some mates found themselves caught in a bushfire near Norseman, in WA, when he was 18.

“We got caught in it and we were involved in helping get a lot of people who were broken down back into Esperance or Kalgoorlie,” he said.

“We were an unofficial strike team for three or four days.”

The frightening experience inspired Mr Wilden, who had moved from SA to work in the Kalgoorlie mines at the time, to join WA’s volunteer fire service.

“Being involved in quite a few major fires when I was younger (and) being that I felt a bit helpless in those previous ones, I wanted to join to get proper training on how to fight a fire properly and efficiently,” he said.

After moving back to SA in 2007, and now living in Port Broughton with his wife Joelene and two children, Tarquin, 5, and Aurora, 3, he joined the SA CFS to continue his involvement in volunteer firefighting.

“You get a sense that you’re really helping the community,” he said.

CFS chief officer Greg Nettleton said volunteers played an invaluable role in protecting property and people.

“CFS volunteer commitment and willingness to put their lives on the line to protect their community is vital,” he said.

“All of our volunteers are skilled in the first instance with the basic firefighting course (and) from there they can choose to extend their skills to a range of options, including road crash rescue, breathing apparatus use (and) hazardous materials, just to name a few courses.”

SES chief officer Chris Beattie agreed volunteers were equipped with the practical emergency response and rescue skills needed to respond to both large and small incidents.

“They also learn some important life skills such as teamwork, effective communication, prioritising and delegating tasks and accepting responsibility,” he said.

“They will get to make new friends and expand their social network and they have the satisfaction of knowing they have helped their community when it needs it most.”

For more information visit cfs.sa.gov.au or ses.sa.gov.au.