Belrose: New hi-tech control centre to assist volunteer surf life savers
Operators in a high-tech hub at Belrose, armed with surveillance cameras and drones, will help volunteer surf life savers rescue people and keep them socially distanced this summer.
Manly
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Volunteer life savers in NSW will be able to get to people trouble more quickly this summer swimming season thanks to a new hi-tech hub that has just opened on the northern beaches.
And the Surf Life Saving NSW (SLSNSW) State Operations Centre (SOC) at Belrose will also help authorities make sure beachgoers adhere to COVID-19 social distancing rules.
The $550,000 SOC, housed within the organisations’s headquarters, will improve emergency communications and co-ordination when the swimming season starts on September 26.
SOC operators, using a bank of TV screens linked to shoreline cameras and drones, will be able to use the improved surveillance to better support beach patrols at 129 surf clubs by helping them manage emergency situations and search and rescue operations up and down the coast.
It will also co-ordinate rescue responses with police and ambulance for the entire year. In 2019, the former SOC managed 438 calls for an ambulance and responded to 602 requests for help to coastal incidents and emergencies from police.
In times of extreme emergencies, the SOC, designed in consultation with the NSW Rural Fire Service and State Emergency Service, can also act as a back-up emergency management centre for the Northern Beaches Council and the North West Metropolitan Region.
Steve Pearce, CEO of Surf Life Saving NSW, said more people were expected to visit the coast this summer.
“With near record drownings last summer and a very significant increase in boating fatalities, it’s vital that our lifesavers have the best communications and emergency co-ordination technology available to help save lives on the beach and on the water,” Mr Pearce said.
“On busy weekends it is not unusual for the SOC to simultaneously co-ordinate over 300 Surf Life Saving assets including patrols at 129 beach locations, on water rescue craft such as jetskis and jetboats, helicopters and more recently, our fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones).”
SLNSW president George Shales said the SOC would help monitor beach attendance numbers and assist councils and other authorities to co-ordinate beach closures.
“We want to send a strong message to all beachgoers to respect the advice and direction of surf lifesavers and lifeguards — particularly regarding beach safety but also regarding social distancing requirements,” Mr Shales said.
“This season we are reminding beachgoers to swim between the red and yellow flags at patrolled locations but to also adhere to the health orders regarding social distancing.”
When officially opening the SOC on Sunday, NSW Emergency Services Minister David Elliott said 20,000 surf life savers played an important role responding to emergencies.
“It is pleasing that they will now have the most up to date facility to assist them,” Mr Elliott said.