23/12/2011 – New Unit nearing completion

I dropped in to have a look at the new premises today and they are looking good.

Fences are up, brickwork complete, doors locked and roller doors closed and its all look promising. Not long and we will be moving in.

Photos have been updated on the website.

6/12/2011 – Flood Rescue Training

After students completed the mandatory prerequisite of a swim test,  it was time for the training to begin.

Saturday and Sunday saw the floodies under assessment conduct flood rescue theory and land based practicals. This included reliving their childhood, using bathtime boats to practice the rules of the water.

Once this was mastered the crews set out for Guildford on Monday. The beautiful weather helped add to a successful day!

But the weather wasn’t as good on Tuesday when we had to recover the vessels early after a storm front started to move in on us out on Melville waters. An early finish, which meant the assessments were incomplete. But an excuse to take the boats back out on the water another…… warmer day!

 

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23/11/2011 – Floodies take a dip

Belmont SES holds a major role in the metro area for flood rescue, with 2 flood boats. ‘Citybel’, for City of Belmont which is a large unsinkable pontoon boat and ‘Tinkabel’, smaller then the other but same style vessel.

4 people nominated for the upcoming course and tonight was the ultimate test with all having to complete a mandatory swim test.

All our members not only completed the required swim, but doubled the distance just to prove Belmont does what it takes and goes the extra mile!

Congrats to all and good luck on the course.

21/11/2011 – NURE Course

The Navigate in Urban and Rural Environments (NURE) course was run on the 19th and 20th of November. 20 students participated both days, with the first day in class learning theory, and the majority of the second day out at John Forrest National Park.

A few photos from day 2 are below (credit to John Saffrey).

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13/11/2011 – NURE Course Prep

Three members went for a walk in John Forrest National Park in preparation for the Navigate in Urban and Rural Environments (NURE) course coming up this weekend. It was a good walk, and one leg had to be changed due to recent fire activity in the area.

Everything went well, except for the last leg when one member entered the co-ordinates wrong into the GPS and was a kilometre to the north of where they should be. The track is shown below from NURE4 in a NW direction. They were supposed to go to POI027. This will be a “Dip-Stick” award nomination for sure…

They realised their mistake and walked back to NURE3.

It will be a good course, with roughly 20 students and 5 instructors from Belmont, Mounted Section, Training Centre and Canning.

7/11/2011 – Oceanview training

Last night, saw Belmont Ses members including 8 brand new inductees, travel to the oceanside for some training.

The training was run by Ken Dewhirst from Wanneroo SES along with two beautiful assistants who hid and acted dead.

Teams walked along the coast, climbing limestone walls searching for missing people. Meanwhilst the storm hit, the rain came pouring down.

With casualties in hand, teams evacuated them through the rough terrain out to safe ground.

Despite the hard work, all I could see was smiles, fun and laughter.

Teams had a great time, instilling their skills in a different environment.

Thanks to Wanneroo for the good time!

3/11/2011 – New Unit – Updated photos

Photos have been updated under the link at the top of the page (new unit)
Here are some additional random photos taken yesterday.

Front Entry

Inside shed – looking towards main building

At the base of our gigantic radio mast

Trailer shed (with washdown bay to the left)

31/10/2011 – Callout – Coolbellup Search

Training was cancelled on Monday night for a missing person in Coolbellup. 20 Search Team Members, 3 Search Team Leaders a Field Search Controller and a Comms Tech all responded to the search.

The 83-year-old Coolbellup man who went missing was found safe and well  by a local shop owner.

Police said the shop owner had recognised the missing man from the posters officers had distributed earlier in the evening.

Job well done by all our volunteers who searched into the morning.