New phones “a life saver” for our SES
by Thunderball Committee
21st October 2024
THUNDERBALL is not just about raising money for the Manningham SES.
It is also about raising the profile of these very important emergency responders.
As part of our fundraising efforts, the Thunderball committee has spoken with a wide range of community groups and businesses to discuss sponsorship and donations for Thunderball.
But we also highlight the great work the SES, do and the fact they have to fundraise for themselves to keep their equipment repaired and up-to-date.
Even something as necessary as compatible mobile phones for use in their vehicles and by the duty officer requires a substantial fundraising effort.
One such conversation was with the Warrandyte Riverside Market, and it struck a chord with their management committee.
Not only has the Warrandyte Riverside Market become a sponsor of Thunderball, they have also organised new mobile phones for the unit for use by the duty officers.
Market Manager Greg Rowell said the Thunderball presentation was a catalyst for reaching out to provide other means of support for the SES.
The presentation highlighted the unit only had old phones 3G with limited battery life, and they were struggling to fund replacement handsets for this simple but vital communication tool.
“It appeared that the State Government weren’t funding them for two vital pieces of equipment, which are the duty officer’s phones.
“So, committee president Rob Edwards said, ‘Well, let’s help them’,” Greg said.
So, straight after the presentation, the Market Committee discussed funding new mobile phones.
“We then contacted Adrian D’urbano at the SES and said we want to cover the cost of the phones and the cost of the ongoing plan.”
Adrian said while the State Government covered the data plan, they desperately needed to update the handsets for the duty officer.
“We have daytime and nighttime duty officers at the unit; when the SES gets a call for assistance via either 000 or 132 500, the call goes firstly to the duty officer, who will assess if it’s a job we can assist with or not.
“From there, we will ring the person who’s made the request and communicate with them to make sure the location is in our area and what services they require — if they need a boat, or if it’s one crew or two crew — so we use that phone to communicate with the callers.
“The phones we were using were probably eight or nine years old; they have to be an iPhone because that’s the portal that Emergency Services Telecommunication Authority (ESTA) uses.”
He said the phones were no longer holding charge and might have about an hour of battery life between charges.
“So, we had to be close to somewhere to have it on charge all the time.
“If it’s a major storm event, well, it’s a problem.”
The imminent switch off of the 3G network also compounds the issue.
Adrian said the market generously donated two of the latest iPhone 15s, which have more than one day’s battery life.
“If it’s a tricky job, we might need to know if power lines are involved, but if they’re not sure, we ask them to send us a photo, and then we can see what we are coming into — so it’s not just about being able to talk to the caller, we need the data, we need to be able to visually see, especially when it’s a major event, like the storms in August, where there’s a lot of jobs we have to prioritise.
“The duty officer is running on absolutely borrowed time to get to the next call.
“They have to make decisions fairly quickly. “If we had those old phones in that recent storm event, it would have been much more difficult because the phones had to be continually plugged in.”
He said the new phones can integrate with an iPad using the Trello App, which the old phones couldn’t run.
“Trello is an iPad app that stores notes from the caller, and I can also add notes via the phone, so it’s integrated as well.
“If I’m out on the road, I can’t pull out the iPad while in the car, but I can pull over and quickly allocate a job to Trello.
“When the guys jump in the truck, they can open up the job, and they can see notes that have been added about anything to look out for — if there are some other dangers like power lines, or if it’s a flood, or if there are any other services that are coming such as ambulance, Fire, or Police.
Adrian said the new phones have made it much easier to assist the community.
Greg was pleased that what may seem like a small thing made such a big difference to the Manningham SES unit.
“As being involved with the Thunderball, this was something the committee could do straight away; within 2–3 weeks, they had their new phones.
“So, they were certainly well received by the unit, and hopefully, they are making their lives a little bit easier.”
There are many ways you can help the SES.
Thunderball will be held in 2025 at the beautiful Bramleigh Estate, and we are looking for donations, large or small, that will all contribute to the purchase of a new vehicle to further assist Manningham SES in responding to our community when we need them most.
Visit thunderball.net.au to see how you can support our SES.
