OBERON State Emergency Service is celebrating 36 years serving the community. The organisation was established in April 1955.
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The first SES Controller, appointed by the Oberon Council, was Ray Buckley, in 1956. Ray was also the shire president at the time. Monty Cotton was appointed to the position in 1961. At this time, a number of training sessions were undertaken both locally and at The Australian Disaster College.
Sid Harrison was appointed local controller in 1973 and held the position until 1982, when his son Ralph took over the position. At this time, Ralph recognised the need for a more rescue and locally focused active unit, and after a public meeting the current unit was formed on May 2, 1982.
Richard Stevenson was appointed as local controller in 1983 and remained in the position for 20 years. Jim Young was appointed to the position in 2003 and remained controller until 2012, when Craig Gibbons was appointed.
The first “official” training venue for the unit was the day care centre at Oberon Hospital. The SES was later allocated one room and a garage in the community centre at 19 North Street.
After working out of private vehicles for some time, a secondhand ex-bushfire brigade Land Rover was eventually purchased with the help of Oberon Council.
"The Oberon fleet now consists of a Toyota Landcruiser 4WD wagon, an Isuzu 4WD heavy rescue truck and in April 2017 the unit took delivery of one of the first Isuzu dual cab heavy rescue trucks purpose-built by the NSW SES,” Mr Gibbons said.
"This vehicle was subsequently named ‘Sharpie’ in honour of former member and deputy controller, the late Alan Sharp.
"Along with training our own members and running our own interagency exercises, such as our cave rescue exercises and vertical rescue challenge, our members have also travelled around the state to train other SES units and other agencies in vertical and road crash rescue.
"We currently have 12 active members and a number of on-call members, but we are looking to boost our numbers in particular road crash, and our wilderness and vertical rescue capabilities."
The unit trains every Tuesday at 7.30pm at the headquarters on the corner of North and Albion streets.
"There are times when we are faced with some confronting situations, but on the flipside, it is an extremely rewarding and satisfying role being a volunteer with the SES," Mr Gibbons said.
If you have thought about volunteering and want to help your community, then maybe the SES is for you.
