Orbost SES member honoured for bushfire bravery

Orbost SES volunteer Allan Smeaton stepped up to lead in his town’s darkest days, and is a deserving winner of the Coles Emergency Responders Heart Volunteer Award.

At their service: SES volunteer Allan Smeaton on the Orbost oval. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

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ALLAN Smeaton’s actions during the first week of January should go down in history.

But the tall, calm SES volunteer would rather the memory of living through the East Gippsland bushfires was something the town could forget.

“We had people coming in who were shell shocked,” Allan said. “It was a pretty rough time. We maintain a very good road crash rescue unit here. And have done some pretty horrible jobs.

“But we are not trained for that sort of thing. It was horrendous.”

With more than 10 years under his belt as a State Emergency Service volunteer, Allan’s Orbost unit was responsible for helping with evacuations, manning the relief centre on the East Gippsland town’s oval and taking care of people who had nowhere else to turn.

When Orbost residents were told it was too late to leave, Allan stepped into the leadership void. The fire was intensifying; communication cut; power was out; food and protective supplies were limited; council staff had evacuated and the people left in the town were afraid for their lives.

“I wanted to cry myself but I couldn’t. We had no direction. We were classed as victims,” he said.

Allan was determined the people sheltering on the oval would not be victims. After setting up the makeshift relief centre with lights and water, Allan returned every day to comfort people; give advice and direction to additional SES units when they finally made it through on treacherous roads; and to make sure supplies were delivered to where they were needed most. His daughter Rhiannon said he was on duty every day from 6am to 7pm.

“My dad is a protector. So I was mainly scared for everybody else,” said Rhiannon, who remained at Orbost, but whose mother, Elizabeth, and sister, Olivia, evacuated.

Allan said the desperate conditions continued for a month.

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“I spent seven days a week, every day going up,” he said, explaining masks were hard to come by and he gave the one off his own face to a child, who like his own daughter Olivia, had a disability.

“She couldn’t breathe,” Allan said. “Her mother was pleading with me, and I gave her my face mask. I said, ‘I am big enough and ugly enough, I don’t need it’.”

SES volunteer Marion Petersen from Geelong was one of the crew members who eventually arrived at Orbost to help.

She said there was almost a reverence toward Allan from the local people.

Coles Emergency Responders is one of four categories in the Heart Volunteer Awards.

“He went the extra mile again and again and again, getting things sorted out for people,” Marion said, adding that even when reinforcements arrived, Allan knew his efforts were still needed.

“There were just swarms of people going into town – but nothing was focused at the people. That was a huge gap. He really carried that burden. He was very calm and kept everyone going.

“I think Allan should be recognised in the Australia Day Honours, quite frankly.”

For his bravery and compassionate support of his community when they needed it most, Allan Smeaton is the winner of the Coles Emergency Responders award.

The Weekly Times Heart Volunteer Awards are supported by the Powercor Country Festival.