Whitehorse SES unit controller Anthony Tregenza has been helping people in crisis for more than 30 years
For more than three decades this man has dropped whatever he has been doing to help people facing emergencies all across the country. From Black Saturday to the tragic car accidents, Anthony Tregenza has seen it all.
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For more than 33 years, Anthony Tregenza has had his work, sleep and home life interrupted by a pager.
At the drop of a hat — or the beep of the device — he has stopped whatever he has been doing to help people in crisis across the country.
He was winding down from his day job with the Red Cross in March 2014 when he got a call at 10pm saying his skills as an air search observer were needed on the other side of the country.
Instead of going to bed, he packed his bags and boarded a plane at 2am to go and search for missing aircraft MH370.
“We flew to Adelaide to pick up a pilot and then we flew to Perth. We filled the aircraft up and spent another three hours flying out to the search area to do an hour’s searching,” he said.
“We were on the run for about 19 hours before we stopped.
“We were pretty wrecked.”
The Whitehorse SES member has devoted thousands of hours — all unpaid — to helping others tackle emergencies, offering support in all kinds of ways, as well as undergoing training to be able to provide such assistance.
As well as specialising in air searching, he’s also gained qualifications in search and rescue, incident and traffic management, handling 4WDs and boats.
As Whitehorse SES unit controller, he’s also put a huge amount of time into managing and mentoring the area’s 90 or so volunteers.
They meet every week to train for the range of emergencies they’re required at — at their busiest they once had 700 call outs during one extreme weather event.
“It’s a privilege to lead a group of people that want to make a difference in people’s lives, often at the moment where they are at their most vulnerable,” Mr Tregenza said.
Well accustomed to the tough situations and horrific sights emergency services can be faced with, he prioritises looking out for their wellbeing.
“I’m very protective over my people,” he said.
“We don’t send anymore people than we need to.
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“First responders pay by price. And the price often is there’s places that you don’t forget for a particular reason, and there’s things that you can’t unsee.
“You have to be very careful about what you potentially put yourself into.”
He’s been to many car accidents, searches for missing people and murder scenes.
One experience he found particularly confronting was when he helped at a relief centre near Kinglake in the aftermath of Black Saturday.
It can be an onerous gig, but after more than three decades, Mr Tregenza isn’t showing any signs of stepping back.
He and the unit are gearing up for a big summer and an even bigger 2020, when they hope they can get a larger and more permanent building to be based out of while they do their amazing work.