Wollongong City SESAnnual Report

2011

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Wollongong City SES Unit Montague Street, North Wollongong, NSW 2500

E: wol.ops@ses.nsw.gov.au

Wollongong City Local Controller

Steve Cliffe

Our Vision: To build and support safe and resilient communities by providing the State’s most versatile and utilised volunteer emergency service

Our Motto: Volunteers excelling in emergency management

Our Mission: Lead communities in managing floods and storms and help people in other emergencies

Cover: Presentation of 5 Year Long Service Award to members of the Wollongong City Unit.

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Introduction

2011 was another busy year for the Unit with our members contributing over 11,000 volunteer hours in responding to almost 800 requests for assistance (RFA’s) from the community. Major operational events included the heavy rain and flooding in March (182 RFA’s) and wind storm in July (172 RFA’s). The combined effect of these resulted in Wollongong being declared a natural disaster area in July.

In addition to responding to our core storm and flood role, 2011 saw an increased support role workload with us participating in over a dozen searches, including a major weekend search at Macquarie Pass in November, and three body recoveries.

This year also saw us respond to our first flood rescues. This is a enhanced role for us, and the service as a whole, but one which is critical in saving and protecting lives during flooding.

Whilst our focus is always on protecting and assisting our local community, we delivered the largest amount of out of area assistance to other communities in NSW and Queensland in the history of the Unit during the 2010-11 summer season. This work made a real difference to people’s lives in a time of need and I was proud to stand alongside many of my fellow members to be recognised for this at a Council Recognition Reception in October.

In mid 2011 we introduced a new intake process as a way to fast track the training of new members and the first group of these members will “graduate” and be allocated to teams at the beginning of 2012, giving them a boost of new enthusiastic trained members.

2011 also saw the start of construction of the first stage of our new headquarters at Coniston, with a four-bay shed due for completion early in 2012. Whilst the construction of future stages may take another couple of years the storage space provided by the new shed will be very welcome and able to be utilised immediately.

Achievements

The Wollongong SES Unit had a successful year consisting of a variety of activities and gains.

The following are some of the highlights and achievements in the area:

• Phase 1 of new heaquarters commenced at Coniston with a four bay shed• New members continue to be welcomed to the unit• Proffessional development in areas such as vertical rescue and flood rescue• Continued support to local emergency services including Fire and Rescue NSW and NSW Police Force• Provided significant resources to ongoing flood operations around NSW and to other units within the

Illawarra South Coast Region.

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Response Types

The Wollongong Unit completed 630 storm related tasks in 2011, down from 1181 in 2010.

A 179% increase in flood related tasks saw these jump to 124 in 2011 compared to 7 in 2010.

Volunteer Hours

Operational storm hours (Left) again consumed 2011 for the unit with a total of 10,420 hours.

The next biggest contibuter was training with over 1000 hours and public relations activities with 926 hours.

Operational Periods

July was the busiest month with the windstorm resulting in 256 RFA’s and then March flash flood with 224 RFA’s.1 10 100 1000 10000 100000

Community ed./PR

Equipment maintenance

Unit administration

Training - all

Support - Police

Rescue - vertical and animal

Tsunami

Storm

Flood

2011

2010

2009

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Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept

Oct Nov Dec

2009 8 11 6 25 46 37 24 153 274 86 13 132010 32 103 19 10 58 26 34 86 790 44 41 452011 12 17 224 4 27 53 256 15 33 41 42 18

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RFAs by month

Flood (124)

Storm (630)

Search (4)

Public relations (7)

Other (131)

Community education(6)Training (52)

Rescue - vertical (1)

Rescue - flood (1)

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Volunteer AnalysisThe largest age group (21-30) makes up 36% of membership at the Unit. This may be due to Wollongong being a university city or more likely due to Wollongong’s population increasing with more Generation Y’s moving to the area.

42% of Wollongong City members have been with the service for less than 2 years.

The Wollongong Unit has a large turnover of members due to the University also being located in town and members leaving the unit at completion of studies.

Wollongong Unit has a female to male ratio of 34/66%.

The graph below represents membership of the unit over the previous 5 years with current membership sitting at a healthy 129 members.

7%

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Age Distribution

66%

34%

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Female

Gender Ratio

42%

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Length Of Service

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2011

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Training

The SES is a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) with the Vocational and Educational Training Advisory Board and has issued the following competencies and statements of attainment (SofA) during 2011 to members of the Wollongong City Unit (compared to 2009 and 2010):

Equipment

The SES continues to invest in the Wollongong Local Government Area to ensure that the Unit is appropriately resourced. Capital expenditure enabled the SES to provide the Wollongong with a new Floodboat – 4.2m Gemini IRB with Motor and trailer.

Wollongong Unit was provided with a Defibrillator ensuring our ongoing support of our Volunteers’ safety and wellbeing. All Mobile Phones for the Unit were upgraded with the Controller and Duty Officer issued with iPhone4s enabling better communications.

A variety of operational equipment was replaced/upgraded throughout the year ensuring our Units’ ongoing capabilities to service their Communities.

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Unit Financial Summary

The financial year for the Wollongong City Unit runs from 1 May to 30 April.

The following table reflects the financial summary for that period. All other information in this report is based on the 2011 calendar year.

Financial Report

Statement of Receipts and Payments Wollongong City Account Balance as at 1 May 2010 $32,513.67

2010/2011 2009/2010Receipts $ $ SES (incl. grants, gst reimbursements) 4,553.21 22,814.50Donations 13,640.85 9,937.50Fundraising Income 6,000.54 7,565.10Interest Received 526.66 466.69Miscellaneous Income 2,453.00 6,011.37Council 7,515.00 17,296.00Grants 0.00 5,000.00

Total Receipts $34,689.26 $69,091.16

Payments $ $ Unit Office Expenses, Stationery and Consumables 21,799.75 17,462.03Misc Trailer/Boats/Vehicles 6,643.78 1,021.32Consumable Equipment and Tools 3,513.86 36,514.09Misc Expenses 4,994.30 6,618.83Bank Charges and Fees 0.00Volunteer Reimbursements 186.04 338.18Training Expenses 6,491.43 5,644.68GST Input Tax 4,000.97 6,002.66

Total Payments $47,630.13 $73,601.79

Net Receipts(Payments) -$12,940.87 -$4,510.63

Funds Available as at 30 April 2011 $19,572.80

Reimbursements to CouncilDuring the 2010/11 financial year the NSW SES has compensated Wollongong City Council for expenses incurred during emergency responses to the value of $261,732.69

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