SWAN and Bassendean SES volunteers have won awards and had their efforts recognised at this year’s awards for excellence in emergency services.
Swan SES’ Danny Jeater won the Peter Keillor Award for his valuable leadership skills over the bushfire season.
Mr Jeater managed a team of SES volunteers responsible for reloading large air tankers (LAT) with fire retardant to make drop after drop on some of the summer’s biggest bushfires.
He developed and ran Exercise Walyunga which was a multi-agency exercise testing the response and management of a mass casualty emergency.
Mr Jeater’s ability to coordinate and collaborate with multiple agencies ensured seamless communication and efficient response strategies during their simulated emergency scenario.
He was also recognised for demonstrating exemplary skills in managing and leading the LAT reloader team when it was brought together on very short notice.
His planning, coordination and organisation ensured the LAT reloader team was equipped with the necessary resources and information to respond swiftly.
Bassendean SES’ Gary Littlewood and Maxine Burrell were honoured with the SES team achievement award for creating a standardised equipment list all units could use on deployment across the state.
Mr Littlewood and Ms Burrell’s work on the development of a standard equipment list for SES general rescue utilities (GRU) teams when they were deployed regionally now forms the foundation of standard equipment lists throughout the SES fleet.
The need for a standardised list was first identified during Tropical Cyclone Ilsa in 2023 when six GRU teams were deployed to the Pilbara.
During the incident, the lack of consistency in on-board equipment was discovered.
Gary and Maxine collaborated with other SES units to settle on a list of equipment that would become standard in vehicles and trailers.
This list takes the guesswork out of trying to get vehicles ready for deployment on short notice.
Fifteen awards were presented across the three categories of individual, team and youth.
