A SIMULATED building ‘collapse’ at Auburn SES headquarters has helped train emergency personal to respond to and tackle unexpected and significant emergency events. Joined by St John Ambulance Granville Combined Division members, the SES team was required to locate, triage, treat and extricate 10 patients with varying injuries from minor to major.
St John 2IC Granville Divisional Officer Didier Moutia says the exercise is vital as it contributes to both organisations’ readiness to respond to and tackle unexpected and significant emergency events.
Taking place at Auburn SES’ dedicated Urban Search and Rescue area, the exercise also allows managers to give people leadership development opportunities in a controlled environment.
Didier says they plan to undertake mass casualty training twice a year with different scenarios.
“Mass casualty training is important for first responder organisations like SES and St John Ambulance,” he said.
“This training event was successful; it provided both teams with the opportunity to work together, test interagency coordination and test our individual processes in a controlled environment.
“We plan to undertake more incident training and continue to develop our local emergency management capability.
“This is not the first time it’s been undertaken as we always find ways of improving.”
