Angela was the only woman at rescue training. Here’s how she changed that

When Angela Lane attended a specialised road crash rescue training session for the Victorian State Emergency Service, she was the only woman among a sea of men.

Meanwhile, at weekly training sessions, she and other women were more likely to hang in the background and wait their turn than jump in for hands-on experience.

SES volunteers Samantha Gatty, Angela Lane, Teagan Denny and Kristie McKie during swift water training.Credit: Simon Schluter

Determined to encourage more women to take frontline roles in the SES, Lane established a program running training days for female SES members. In its first year the Women in Rescue program held a training day at just one branch. Now the initiative is in its eighth year, and about 360 people participated at seven locations on Saturday.

“There are some women who are great that are stepping forward, but I know for me personally I’m not instinctively going to step up or take up space,” Lane said.

“I’ll wait my turn and have a go, but once I’ve had a go I’m done and hand it on to the next person.

“But that’s not necessarily the best thing for training and learning how to do something.”

Angela Lane during SES training in Seymour.Credit: Simon Schluter

Lane was among 40 volunteers to attend the women’s train session in Seymour on Saturday, taking part in live demonstrations and skills centred around boat response drills, water rescue and trailer manoeuvring.

Lane said the sessions were empowering and allowed volunteers to discuss techniques to make them confident in handling heavy machinery or tools.

“I might not have the upper body strength as the men, but I just needed slightly different techniques to achieve the same outcome,” she said.

When Lane joined the SES, she had never tied a complex knot or picked up a chainsaw. In fact, she thought she was signing up to serve roadside revival tea and coffee.

But it wasn’t long until she had learnt specialised rescue techniques and helped her community on the front line, responding to storms, floods and road crashes.

“Women have always been involved in volunteering, but I suppose it’s only been more recently where we’ve been on the tools,” she said.

“The team is that much stronger because you have that diversity which not only represents the community but allows a core strength for the whole unit.”

Currently, women make up nearly 34 per cent (1689 out of 5002) of VICSES’s volunteer base. But the
organisation wants to increase that to reach near parity.

Interim VICSES chief executive Kate White said the skills learnt at Saturday’s training would boost the service’s overall capacity.

“Our female first responders are extraordinary, handling highly complex and challenging incidents,” she said.

The event follows a demanding 2024, where VICSES volunteers received a yearly total of 44,380 requests for assistance across the state on the back of a number of storms, flash floods and road rescues.

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