Ballina SES long term Unit Commander, Gerry Burnage, retired last year leaving big boots to fill.  Everyone gets a big set of boots at the SES, but an extra special pair have been found and a new Unit Commander has taken them out of the shoe box, and laced them on firmly!

Congratulations, Sue!

Sue has a lifelong history of donating time to good causes. After a long career in the Department of Communities and Justice, becoming a part of a team of people providing solutions in times of trouble seemed like a good fit. That was over 14 years ago, and Sue feels like she is in the right place.

“I’d only just recently moved to Ballina, maybe three or six months prior to the Lennox Head tornado.  I was still involved with other volunteer work, and then I saw a newspaper article looking for new SES volunteers. I thought that sounds like something that I’d be interested in.

“I didn’t know much about the SES and thought, yep, I’ve probably got some skills that I can transfer, or new ones to learn.”

Sue says her involvement with the SES since then has been a positive experience.

 “I feel like I get more out of it personally than I give.”

While Sue had been a deputy unit commander for some time, she still found there was much to learn before taking on the top job.

Being across everything the SES does, “was probably one of my initial hesitations. It’s not about doing everything or knowing every technical part of it. That’s why you have a team. It’s about managing and supporting.  And accountability.”

In Sue’s time with the SES, she sees the strength in her team, and it comes down to solid connections.

“The Ballina unit has been led by Gerry and a close team for a long time.  Over that time, relationships with all the other agencies that we work with, whether they’re government, non government, voluntary or the other emergency services, those relationships are always key.

“The Ballina unit also has a very good, not just rapport, but credibility with the wider community.”

Sue lists a ream of tokens, gestures and food-related gifts given to the team, which goes a long way to feeling the appreciation from people in the Ballina shire.  

She says the community is equally responsive letting letting the crew know when there’s room for improvement.  “When things don’t go so well, the community can quite rightly let themselves be known and heard.”

That feedback along with constant training she says has really lifted the unit’s capabilities.

“With flood rescues in particular, there was a really big push from the 2017 and 2022 floods.   The agency has seen the depth of its responsibility and put a lot more, not just money, but increased capability in flood rescue. We’ve really, really taken that on board proactively.”

The recent weather event March including the elusive Cyclone Alfred saw a different level of multifaceted threat, from up river as well as from the sea.  Since 2022, a new tool has been used by the SES to predict and respond to incidents. Alfred saw it put to the test. 

With Alfred’s rain causing a flood threat from upriver and cyclonic winds producing dangerous conditions along the coast, SES preparations, warnings and action advice at Ballina were rolled out in a timely fashion to suit the conditions produced by the closing vice.

“In relation to general community response at that preparation stage, we had a good lead in for the community. And the community responded brilliantly.

“The biggest challenge was the sandbagging, because potentially, if it did come down and hit the way it was being predicted, there absolutely would have been areas that were going to be inundated by water.”

“As SES members, it is way beyond our scope to fill thousands of sand bags without the community’s help. So the community came in, and honestly, if you could have captured it out there, it was a bit like a social event! 

“People would come to fill their own sandbags, and they’d stop for an hour and just help the SES and help other people. So there was a lot of really good spirit from everyone.”

As the weather worsened, the SES were forced to batten down their hatches – not something they do often, but it was a critical step, and they weren’t sure how the community would take it.

“There was one particular day it was really windy. We’d made a decision that we’re only responding to life threatening incidents, really triaging, because it just wasn’t safe for our members to go out. 

“A message was put out to the community, pretty much based on that, and you know, that got such an overwhelmingly favourable response.

“There was always that risk that we would get people saying, ‘well, this is your job. We need you, but there was none of that at all.”

It is obvious, talking to Sue, how much she cares about her role and the people around her, whether they are in her team or her community.  It was no surprise to those around her when she was nominated as Volunteer of the Year on Australia Day.

However Sue didn’t feel like she was being singled out, “I’m not a volunteer on my own in the community.  I’m part of a team. To me, it’s like the whole team was nominated.”

Helping people in need is a core value shared by the SES leader.

“If I can make a person’s worst morning a little bit better, or just give the time and a skill to do something that somebody else can’t do,  it’s what really fills me.

“I think with the team there’s always a little bit of nervousness around the responsibility. Ballina is a very busy, big unit. We’ve got lots of members. We get a lot of jobs. So there’s a little bit of apprehension around that.

“But there’s also excitement to work with the incredible people in the team, to support them. To keep them doing what they do so well.”