Unit History - Year 1990 to 2000

In March 1992, Stephen Pascoe took over as Controller from Bob with the aim of continuing to improve the professionalism of the unit and maximise the respect for the unit by all other agencies.

In early July 1992, the unit purchased a Ford Falcon Panel Van, an ex Victoria Police Dog Squad Van, which is dedicated to vehicle crash rescue. The new vehicle enabled the unit to arrive on scene and start work quickly while the slower truck provides heavy rescue back-up with maximum resources.

Over the years the unit has been involved in multiple storm damages, floods, crash rescues, a light plane crash at Christmas Hills, traffic operations at two Phillip Island Grand Prix, a car with driver trapped underwater in the Diamond Creek, lighting for crime scenes, fire support during the Warrandyte & Warburton fires, searches for lost persons and other demanding tasks.

In June 1993 the unit's storm damage trailer was restored. The trailer was repainted and new VicSES markings attached. An air mast for lighting, generator, ladder and custom made plastic roller were also attached. A new SES issued water pump now resides in the trailer. With new brakes the trailer became operational again in late June 1993.

In March 1994 our Unit entered for the first time, the State Rescue Skills Competition which was held in North Geelong. Eight team members were selected for the competition which was held in a disused power station. Our Unit did very well placing first! Traditionally the first place winner represents VicSES in the National Rescue Skills competition held annually. In 1994 it was held in Adelaide.

With council and VicSES support, a team of eight rescuers and two other members flew to Adelaide to compete in the National Competition which was held in early June 1994. Yet again our team did very well and came in third place winners. VicSES has never done this well and everyone was ecstatic with the result.

As of the 1st of July 1994, the Eltham Unit had 41 active members with twelve probationary and ten non-active making a total of 63 unit members! The Unit re-subscribed to VESA and members now receive the official VicSES magazine called "Phoenix", once every two months.

A new crash rescue competition started in mid 1995. The winners of this state run competition would represent VicSES at the National Road Accident Rescue Competition to be held in Brisbane in early August 1995. The competition enticed many entries from some very experienced and active units such as Knox, Frankston and Portland to name a few.

The Eltham Unit entered a team with eight experienced rescuers. We placed a very close third behind Knox who missed first place by ten points. The Portland SES Unit were winners and represented VicSES in the National Competition and placed second by two points! They did very well.

In late 1995 our Unit entered another team in the State Disaster Rescue Skills Competition held at the Niddrie Quarry. Our team did an excellent job placing first and only missing 157 points out of the possible 1200. Like the previous year, Eltham sent a team to represent Victoria in the National Competition held in Marburg near Brisbane during June of 1996. The team was very successful and placed second. The NSW team won. The competition was very well run and the stands were tough. The teams from around Australia are getting more skilled and competitive each year. The next National Competition was held in Victoria in 1998.

Our Unit was the recipient of an Australia Day Award 1996 for Jagga-jagga. We also celebrated our 10th anniversary by having a dinner and presentation night in late December of 1995. We invited guests from the Shire and other emergency services who made speeches and Steve presented several 10 year certificates to members.

During the later months of 1996 & early 1997, we were lucky to be able to changeover all three of our rescue vehicles. The new GP truck from State Headquarters was an excellent addition. We have modified it to suit our needs with custom built shelves and a cargo-drawer for the rear space. Since it has been operational, it has proved to be easy to use and very functional.

The Shire of Nillumbik now provide us with our Ford Panel Van & the 4x4 which is now a Toyota Landcruiser. These two vehicles will be on a replacement program ensuring we have a new vehicle every couple of years. The fit-out for rescue one went without a hitch. The initial design many years ago must have been good as the entire vehicle was changed over in one day!

Our Unit uses HURST hydraulic heavy rescue tools. Our submission for an update for this gear came through in early 1997 with a complete changeover of the pumps and major tools. This has saved our Unit a great deal of heartache as our older tools were becoming less reliable and would need to be replaced.

We also received a CRUX Tilt Rescue Frame through the SES 1997 CESP bids at this time. The rescue frame can be used for cliff and mine shaft rescues allowing the stretcher to be luffed over an edge with minimal friction. A great addition to the equipment we have for vertical rescue.

One member from our Unit, Justin Kibell entered in the new Wilderness Navigation Skills Challenge which is a land search and navigation competition. The 12 hour event starts at 9:00am and finishes in the dark at 9:00pm. The competition is very hard and teams from all emergency services were invited to enter. For the 1997 event, Justin teamed up with a friend from the Pakenham Unit and then in the 1998 and 1999 comps, Justin teamed up with Cathy from Oakley SES. We have been placing in the top third each time with the 1998 effort coming tenth overall.

During 1997, the calls for emergency assistance have increased with more road rescues and windstorm calls than usual.

Our Unit was discovered by the entertainment industry in 1998. We were busy acting in several television shows and even a film. One of our members, Justin Kibell was on "Hey Hey It's Saturday" for a short sketch abseiling from the rafters behind Daryl for an emergency comedy scene.

Our next involvement was with a TV series called "State Coroner" which required our Unit (14 members over two days) and some Lilydale SES members to be part of a coach crash rescue for one their episodes. The two days were very long and the filming seemed to go forever, all for about 10 minutes footage.

"Witch Hunt", the film, asked us to provide some members for a large search in their film near Warrandyte. Doncaster SES also provided members for a large scale line search and several other activities. The SES involvement went for several days with our service in full view of the public yet again.

Late in November 1998 we were again asked to be part of a TV series called "Halifax FP". The scene was another coach crash along with a few shots in a hospital. A total of six members were involved in this filming.

During the year 1998 we noticed an increase in the number of rescue calls and a decrease in storm damage incidents. A large number of the MVA calls were false alarms with no persons trapped.

We also responded to some unusual tasks in 1998. Our Unit, and many other SES units were asked to help turn off gas meters in residential, factory and retail outlets in late October due to a critical gas shortage in the State. Later that month we assisted the Department of Health and Human Resources with a letter drop around the Thomastown area about a Legionnaire's Disease outbreak.

The CESP bid brought us a new 40 tonne air bag and pump, a large tent and some acro-props. The tent will be very useful for land search operations and public relations activities.

Steve Pascoe, our Unit Controller up until 1998 handed control of the Unit over to Ivan Powell in September 1998. Steve wanted to inject new ideas and have a change of management which prompted him to discontinue as Controller and allow someone else to have a go.

The year 1999 was our busiest on record with a total of 202 tasks. An increase in road crash rescue calls, especially during the day kept our crews busy. Some of the more serious crashes resulted in loss of life and some with narrow escapes such as a truck driver that was trapped in his truck by the front of his cabin and also his load of crushed rock. The rock had broken through the cabin rear window and covered him in stones. His truck was also suspended above a creek.

Bluey Day is a fund-raising program co-ordinated by the Police which involves all emergency services. The money raised through a $1000 headshave is given to the Royal Children's Hospital to support children living with childhood cancer. Six members from our Unit participated raising well over $6000. Fund-raising was hard work collecting in shopping centres and sausage sizzles but it is worth it.