Held annually, the event encourages the public to express their thanks and acknowledge the work of SES volunteers within their community, by dressing in orange in a show of solidarity.
In the past 12 months, VICSES volunteers have been hard at work responding to emergencies within their communities, with more than 33,000 requests for assistance received across the state.
Their broad skill set has been tested, responding to more than 16,000 RFAs for downed trees, more than 3000 RFAs for reports of flood, 1600 road rescues and almost 500 technical rescues.
When it comes to rescues, our volunteers support Victoria Police across a range of search and rescue roles, with volunteers responding to over 1600 ‘Assist Police’ jobs on average every year.
This includes assistance at searches for missing people, searches for evidence at crime scenes as well as scene preservation and assistance with lighting towers and marquees.
In the 2022-23 financial year, volunteers gave almost 290,000 hours of their time supporting their communities in times of emergency, with plenty more spent refining their skill set during weekly training events and regular large-scale exercises.
VICSES provides the largest road rescue network in Australia, with highly trained volunteers playing a significant role in the state’s road safety, responding to 1600 road crash rescues in the past year.
VICSES members have also played a vital support role in recent times as neighbouring states experienced severe weather events, with staff, volunteers and VICSES appliances from across Victoria travelling to Queensland late last year to assist in the state’s recovery from a major flood event.
VICSES operations chief officer David Baker said wearing orange was a great way of acknowledging the sacrifices of the SES personnel.
“Wear Orange Wednesday is an opportunity for the public to say thank you, to all the volunteers who sacrifice their time away from their family, friends and loved ones, to help the community rain, hail or shine,” he said.
“I continue to admire the remarkable and relentless efforts of our VICSES volunteers and applaud their significant contributions to Victorians across the state over what has been a particularly busy period.”
To help celebrate WOW Day 2024 and to thank our volunteers for all their hard work, the public can share a message of thanks to SES volunteers this WOW Day by posting on Facebook or Twitter and use the hashtag #ThankYouSES.
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