Worth the time: Michael D'Amore has been a volunteer at Shepparton Search and Rescue for 20 months now and has loved every moment of it so far.
Photo by
Nicola Ceccato
Dealing with a flooding crisis as the new person in an emergency rescue group would be daunting.
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But according to Shepparton Search and Rescue volunteer Michael D’Amore, it isn’t when you’ve got a good team working with you.
It was only four months into his gig as a volunteer that the October 2022 floods hit, but Mr D’Amore wasn’t stressed.
“It was fine because they always prepare you up,” he said.
“They don’t send you off alone, as new members they put you out with people who are a lot more experienced and skilled and they guide you through it so you’re learning while helping.
“At the time (during the floods), rather than sitting back and not being able to help, it was really good to play a small part in helping the community and people in distress.”
And 20 months later, Mr D’Amore is still loving it.
“I really do enjoy it. It’s good fun, it’s challenging sometimes, but they never set you up to fail,” he said.
“It’s always set up so that you’ve got the training, skills and experience to be able to deal with whatever’s happening.”
Teamwork: Michael D'Amore and fellow volunteer Craig Duke love volunteering at Shepparton Search and Rescue.
Photo by
Nicola Ceccato
Now, they’re on the hunt for more volunteers.
Being a Shepparton Search and Rescue volunteer, the training never stops.
Volunteers are always learning something new, and in the time Mr D’Amore has been one, he’s learnt a lot.
“Some of the training I’ve been doing is learning how to do temporary repairs on houses, helping with clearing trees off roads, and safely climb a ladder,” Mr D’Amore said.
“There are storm event skills, like how to fix up a broken window, or a car has ended up in a building where it’s not supposed to be, so you look at how do you make the structure safe, so that the tow truck drivers can remove the car. Such a range of skills to learn.”
Mr D’Amore also stressed that volunteering wasn’t always about working as a crew member.
There are a variety of roles people can volunteer for, which are often utilised during an event.
“We have people here with lots of different skills and that’s why it’s such a strong unit because people have different skills in various areas from admin to co-ordinating,” he said.
“There is a degree of fitness involved, but that depends on the role you’re playing too.
“There are different roles, and we work in teams, so it’s not about someone single-handedly rolling a car back over. It’s about doing it safely and under control and predominately making sure people are safe doing it.”
Training for volunteers occurs every Monday night from 7.30pm, and once volunteers have acquired a certain level of training, they are given a pager and can start attending jobs.
Once qualified, volunteers aren’t expected to attend every job but more so attend the jobs they can do.
Mr D’Amore also stressed that Search and Rescue was for everyone: men, women and even junior members aged 16 to 18 years old.
Junior members can attend the training and age-appropriate emergencies such as storm events.
For people interested in joining or seeing what Shepparton Search and Rescue is about, head along to one of their Monday trainings or visit their Facebook page or website to contact them.
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