For the Tallangatta unit, there’s an added challenge in the winding rural roads of the Towong Shire, but Acting Controller Anthony Willison said time was the real test.

“There’s an expectation we have a rescue truck with a minimum of two members on board on the road within eight minutes of getting the job,” he said.

“There’s a reliance on us to get the person out and it’s frustrating if we can’t get out the door because we know there’s a situation there we want to help with.”

It’s for this reason Mr Willison is seeking new members within the immediate region.

“Our struggle is that a lot of the people who live in Tallangatta work in Wodonga, so we’re trying to engage the people who are physically able and have the time to join up and assist us, particularly with the daytime response,” he said.

“We’ve noticed for our unit at least, we get a lot more call-outs for road rescue during the day than night, and if we struggle to respond it might fall back on Wodonga, Corryong or Mount Beauty, and they have similar issues.” 

Tallangatta has 22 active operational members and while Mr Willison welcomes any new faces, he’s particularly targeting people who can meet the eight-minute timeframe.

“We might have five to six people in Wodonga that have to drive out to where the job might be,” he said.

“I’d like to engage local businesses, because there are some in Tallangatta including in engineering, construction and maintenance who have a younger age group, and see if they are willing to let their employees leave when it happens to make sure we can respond.” 

Mr Willison has been part of the unit for eight years, and there’s one incident at Mount Bogong that sticks in his mind.

“We were up there for 30 hours helping a skier who had broken his femur in half – that’s one you never forget,” he said.

“I think what people enjoy about the SES is a culmination of many things; the friendships you create; being able to get out and on the tools; learning new things and the opportunity to have access to nationally-recognised training.” 

Tallangatta was among many units across the state affected by funding shortfalls in 2016 that prompted an increase in budget allocation by the state government.

The Victorian SES will await May's budget with the second-busiest year on record fresh in memory.

Chief Executive Stephen Griffin wrote in the 2016-17 annual report advocacy to state government had “addressed some of the longstanding funding concerns of our units”.

“The 2017/18 Victorian state government budget addressed the need for capital works, and the matching funding issue that threatened the financial viability of units,” he said.

“There is more to be done, but this injection of funds is certainly a major step forward for VIC SES.”

The record number of more than 31,000 incidents across the state last year followed a five-year upward trend.

Towong was one of five shires where progress was reported, and North East units on a whole spent more than 34,000 hours responding to 3462 incidents.

Seventy-five per cent were storm and flood related, and the next most frequent call-out was rescues, with 302 for road, aircraft, industrial, rail and ‘other’.

Flooding at the end of 2016 impacted the Wodonga Sand Quarries, leading to a potential threat to the interstate gas supply line.

For the first time, the North East Region Incident Control removed and constructed a levee in consultation with the North East Catchment Management Authority.

Then just months later in March, over 200 requests for assistance were received over three days in the North East, and an incident control centre was activated at Wodonga.

Storm-related incidents are among the most common for the Bright SES.

Unit Controller Roy Kennedy said of 158 call-outs in the last nine months, 90 were due to wild weather and flooding.

“Last year was exceptionally busy – we’ve had a couple of very busy years,” he said.

“The other thing that’s big for us is paraglider and high angle rescues, and a lot of assist police and ambulance,” he said.

“We are getting larger numbers of people going out to national parks and hiking, some of whom – not all – aren’t 100 per cent prepared.

“The biggest threat we have is during the day – when people are working we can be light on in numbers, especially if we have do a rapid turn-out, which most of our jobs aren’t.

“That’s where if we have very active retired people, they can play a big role.”

Mr Kennedy said it was important there be a range of ages and skillsets across a unit, with his 28 active members a mix of ages.

“We have a unit which is very cohesive and with high morale, and the interactions between individuals is very positive,” he said.

“Our female membership is growing which is a very positive thing – two years ago we were lucky to have one female; now we’ve got five.

“Just like Tallangatta, we’re always looking for more people to come and volunteer.

“We would welcome anybody and it’s not just for active duties; there’s always things that can be done around the unit in terms of maintenance, administration, even if somebody wanted to drive the vehicles, that sort of thing is always an option too.

“There’s room for everybody.”

Anyone who is interested in joining the SES should call (03) 9256 9000.