Just two months after their first flood training session, volunteer firefighters from Otford and Helensburgh Rural Fire Brigades tested their new skills amid the deluge on April 6. Local RFS crews helped out across the northern Illawarra, from controlling traffic after landslides to rescuing a driver from floodwaters.
Their new ancillary land-based flood rescue kits came in handy.
“Both Otford and Helensburgh used theirs," NSW RFS Illawarra/Sutherland group captain Craig Robertson said.
“I didn't expect to be using it that quick.”
Flash flooding and landslides wrought havoc on Saturday, April 6 as some Illawarra suburbs were inundated with over 200 millimetres of rain. But the grim forecast had given the RFS time to prepare and more than 30 local volunteers were on hand to help the State Emergency Service (SES).
“We sort of put a little bit of pre-planning into it, remembering that floods come under jurisdiction of the SES and we normally work under them, but once we start getting local triple zero calls to the local area, then we're dispatched to those jobs,” Craig said.
“We had a few jobs up north, and we had one rescue [in] which our flood kits were utilised on Saturday morning down at Otford Causeway.”
Craig was first on-scene after being notified that a man was trapped on top of his vehicle, which had been washed into the fast-flowing Hacking River at Otford Causeway.
“Apparently the driver come down and he hit the dirt and the mud, and [the car] slid into the causeway because the water and the mud had [risen] and he didn't know as there were no signs to say [so],” Craig said.
The crew threw a lifejacket to the driver.
“Then we managed to get a truck across to him to actually get him onto the back of the fire truck to get him out, so it was another good outcome. And for us to have those kits there to throw to the person, if that person would've been washed off the car or fallen off the car, at least that person would've had a lifejacket on.”
The callouts for the Otford and Helensburgh brigades continued throughout Saturday morning.
Another driver was trapped in floodwater on Lawrence Hargrave Drive before it subsided. Crews helped Waterfall Rural Fire Brigade remove fallen trees in the Royal National Park, cleared debris and performed traffic control alongside Stanwell Park Rural Fire Brigade during the closure of Lawrence Hargrave Drive at Coalcliff and Bald Hill.
Even after the busy Saturday, many volunteers turned up for training the next day.
“I was doing some assessment and training with members on Sunday at Darkes Forest, with members that had been out on the Saturday doing flood work … that goes to show the commitment of our volunteers,” Craig said.
“They'll do operations all day and then if they're committed to training courses and those courses are going [ahead], they’ll do those on the Sunday.”
For flood recovery support, Northern Illawarra residents can find help at Thirroul District Community Centre on Saturday, April 13 from 9am to 1pm.
On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week, Wollongong City Council's Customer Service staff will be at Helensburgh Library and Dapto Ribbonwood Centre to give face-to-face advice to community members. Council staff can be reached via their Customer Service number (02) 4227 7111.
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