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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-07-23 Daily Xml
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STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE CALLOUTS

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (14:56): My question is to the Minister for Emergency Services. Can the minister inform the house how recent extreme weather conditions have been responded to by the State Emergency Service?

The Hon. M.F. O'BRIEN (Napier—Minister for Finance, Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:56): I thank the member for Little Para for the question. We are all aware that there was a stark reminder of the contribution of volunteers over the past few days when strong winds, icy conditions and heavy rain gripped much of our state.

The State Emergency Service responded to more than 750 calls for assistance between Thursday and Sunday. Approximately 500 SES volunteers provided almost 7,500 hours of assistance to the South Australian community over these four days. Volunteers responded throughout the day and night to a range of incidents across the state, including trees falling on residential property, damage to buildings and minor flooding.

While all SES units across the state were active, the most calls for assistance were from the Adelaide metropolitan area, the Mount Lofty Ranges and the Fleurieu Peninsula. In Victor Harbor the South Coast SES unit attended to more than 100 jobs—and I saw them out and about on Sunday morning—while the Onkaparinga unit also attended to nearly 100. Crews from the Country Fire Service and the Metropolitan Fire Service provided assistance at many of these tasks.

Due to the extended operations, the State Control Centre was activated at SES State Headquarters and an incident management team was established at the SES Netley facility. These facilities remained operational on a 24-hour basis and were staffed by a combination of SES and CFS employees and volunteers.

Members of the public were kept informed through a number of formal media conferences held jointly by the SES and the Bureau of Meteorology as well as through frequent social media updates. It was revealing to observe the increased use of social media to publish information and the way in which members of the community embraced it and responded. As an example, one update on the CFS Facebook page attracted dozens of comments. Here are two examples:

Well done to all. Such wonderful, dedicated and brave people that work tirelessly and unconditionally to help others in all conditions. Thank you and well done for all your efforts.

Great commitment and service from SES and CFS; my family watched you removing the fallen tree at Bridgewater Oval yesterday, in pouring rain and near dark conditions. You looked tired but you carried on with your work until the job was done. Well done to all involved, the community is grateful to you all.

I am happy to report that requests for SES assistance from the general public reduced dramatically on Sunday night as weather conditions began to ease. In light of this, a decision was made to stand down the Incident Management Team and State Coordination Centre. On behalf of the government and all members, I pass on our sincere thanks to all emergency services personnel who worked so diligently and effectively to ensure community safety.

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