Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Mark Cunnington from the NT's emergency services is encouraging people to wear orange and support our volunteers

Transcript

Mark Cunnington from the NT's emergency services is encouraging people to wear orange and support our volunteers · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that tomorrow is where Orange Wednesday, a day
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: to thank all sees volunteers who give their time to
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: help communities during floods, storm emergencies and in everyday rescues,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: as we learned last week when a man was rescued
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: after a potentially deadly fall in Kackadoo. To talk about
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: that and where Orange Wednesday, I am joined on the
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: line right now by the Northern Territories Regional Manager of
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Emergency Management Planning, Mark Cunnington. Good morning to.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: You, Mark, Good morning Katie.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: How are you very well? Mark? Tell us a little
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  Speaker 1: bit more. Firstly about this rescuing Kackadoo.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Last week, Oh Okay people received a call from our
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: communications saying that a person had activated an emergency positioning
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: beacon in Kackadoo earlier that evening. We got the call
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: around eight o'clock. We finished up getting around sixteen people
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: together into verticals and heading off down to near Monacar
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Falls in Kakadou to rescue a twenty year old that
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  Speaker 2: had apparently fallen some fifteen to twenty meters down a
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  Speaker 2: steep face, breaking both his angles and sort of putting
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: himself in the very sorry state. Unfortunately, so by the
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: time he got down there and got equipment sorted and
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  Speaker 2: up to him and out, it was four am in
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: the morning.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Wow, goodness mate. And it sounds like it was comprehensive
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: and complex.
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  Speaker 2: Look very much so, not the least of which was
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: having to haul a good couple of hundred kilos worth
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  Speaker 2: of equipment too unable to be able to extract him
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  Speaker 2: from where he was, and then having to carry him
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  Speaker 2: down And apparently during the walk down it started raining
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: very heavily and just made life a little more uncomfortable
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: for our volunteers work to get him out.
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  Speaker 1: Goodness meete, Mark, I mean, how often do your volunteers
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  Speaker 1: have to get out there? And you know, do these
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: kinds of rescues.
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  Speaker 2: Look, we usually find maybe half a dozen times a year,
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  Speaker 2: and that's between here and Alice Springs. I mean our
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  Speaker 2: Alice Springs volunteers have had so far I think two
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  Speaker 2: operations there on the larup in the trail to extricate
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: people who have got themselves into trouble there. And we
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: have the occasional call that up here in the North
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  Speaker 2: people getting themselves into trouble at heights, usually in Lychfield.
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  Speaker 2: Is most of our work, but occasionally we do get
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  Speaker 2: one in Kakado.
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  Speaker 1: Now it really does highlight, I think the importance of
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  Speaker 1: the amazing volunteers that we've got here in the Northern
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  Speaker 1: Territory and our emergency you know, the en ties, our
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: emergency service workers and the incredible stuff that you do.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Now we know that tomorrow is indeed where or in Wednesday?
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Mark tell us what it is exactly, Well where Orange.
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  Speaker 2: Wednesday is an opportunity for employers, friends, the public at
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  Speaker 2: large to say thanks to your local, specifically state and
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  Speaker 2: territory emergency service volunteers. So those people in Orange who
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: volunteer their time to come and help you out in
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  Speaker 2: floods during storm cyclones up here, and you go out
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: and look for people lost in national parks and recover
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: wayward walkers when they fall off tracks.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Now I know that not you know, not only are
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  Speaker 1: you sort of helping add all of those different types
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  Speaker 1: of things, but your volunteers help out at a lot
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  Speaker 1: of community events as well. You know, there is so
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  Speaker 1: much that they're involved in, and quite simply, if they weren't,
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  Speaker 1: some of those things couldn't even happen.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Well, that's right, and look just a few stats here
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  Speaker 2: for you. In the last twelve months, we've had one
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: hundred and forty four incidents that include the public duty
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  Speaker 2: type incidents that you've spoken about, and our volunteers have
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: put in some fifteen hundred hours of their own time
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  Speaker 2: to do that. You know, we've attended everything from the
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Vertigo rescues, road crash rescues at the remode areas. Our
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: people have done some really long runs to go out
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  Speaker 2: and support police and other people out at the roadblocks
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  Speaker 2: and so on. For the COVID operations, we've been running
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: equipment out for some of that sort of stuff. We've
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: assisted in some locations with those. You know, our volunteers
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: are out there in the community. It's the community helping
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  Speaker 2: itself and you know, without them, we would have to
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  Speaker 2: pay a great deal more to have a professional service
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  Speaker 2: deliver similar type services.
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  Speaker 1: Well, how are those volunteer numbers? Are you always on
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  Speaker 1: the lookout for more?
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, we're away was on the lookout for more. At
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: the moment, we're around two hundred and fifty volunteers and
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  Speaker 2: that's down on normal numbers usually around the three hundred mark.
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  Speaker 2: So we're absolutely looking for more people. And look, if
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: people call eight to nine double two three six three zero.
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  Speaker 2: We can put them in contact with their local area
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  Speaker 2: and they can start volunteering within a couple of weeks.
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  Speaker 1: Now, mark what you got lined up for tomorrow for
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  Speaker 1: Where Orange Wednesday.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Look, I'll be adding in the office in my orange
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  Speaker 2: and there's going to be morning teas and gatherings all
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  Speaker 2: around dow And I understand. Just to say thanks to
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  Speaker 2: our amazing volunteers.
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  Speaker 1: Oh good stuff. Well, I think it's a really important
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  Speaker 1: thing to do. Like I said, I know that those
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  Speaker 1: volunteers do a phenomenal job out assisting at so many
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  Speaker 1: different things. So we really appreciate you having a chat
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: with us tomorrow. Let's hope everybody wears their orange tomorrow.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Absolutely Where Orange Wednesday be in it and post it
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  Speaker 2: up on Facebook and let us know what you're doing
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  Speaker 2: for your local volunteers.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Good on your make lovely to talk to you.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Were done, Thank you, Thank you,