Government plans bushfire response

August 12, 2010

South East councils have welcomed the State Government’s pledge to prioritise establishment of “places of last resort and refuge” in rural towns before the coming bushfire season as the nation looks for ways to prevent a repeat of Victoria’s Black Saturday tragedy.

Emergency Services Minister Michael Wright yesterday announced an interim response to Victoria’s Royal Commission into the disaster, which claimed 173 lives. Read more

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Tornado leaves trail of destruction

August 4, 2010

Stretching 50 metres wide and three kilometres long, Saturday night’s tornado in Penola left a devastating trail of destruction along its narrow path.

Now a trail of community volunteers is continuing work to clean up the mess. Read more

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Mid-flight lightning scare

April 7, 2010

A REGIONAL Express plane en route from Mount Gambier was struck by lightning on Tuesday morning when it flew in to land at Adelaide as wild storms lashed the city.

While passengers on board flight ZL4612 escaped injury, some were left rattled as a loud bang was heard on the left wing. Read more

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Teenage rescuers recognised

February 25, 2010

Teenagers who assisted a bleeding elderly woman after she collapsed in her garden have been commended by Ambulance Victoria.

Casterton sisters Victoria and Caitlin Halloran, both 15, were walking home from school last September when they heard Eileen Harvey calling for help. Read more

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Two young men saved from burning car

December 22, 2009

A 63-year-old farmer from Furner saved the lives of two teenaged car crash victims when he helped them escape from a burning vehicle on Saturday night.

Peter Varcoe and his wife were travelling on the Robe-Penola Road about 11.30pm when an oncoming vehicle spun out of control at a bend and crashed. Read more

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Mount Gambier overdue for eruption

September 22, 2009

Volcano
An internationally-respected geologist has warned the Mount Gambier district could be under threat from “explosive” volcanic eruptions and key emergency services agencies must be prepared. Read more

Tags: disaster, emergency, Mount Gambier, volcano | 6 Comments

Emergency Services centre opened

August 15, 2009

Emergence Services Centre
The CFS, SES and ForestrySA today officially opened their new state-of-the-art combined emergency services facility at Mount Gambier. Read more

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Frustration at hoax triple zero calls

August 10, 2009

Triple zero calls should only be made in life-threatening or time-critical emergencies, according to Police and Emergency Services Minister Michael Wright.

Mr Wright yesterday expressed frustration at the number of prank phone calls to emergency services. Read more

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Evacuation efforts commended

July 15, 2009

Mount Gambier’s fire chief has praised the successful mass evacuation of hundreds of people from two crowded venues in separate incidents within 48 hours.

The Skin 216 nightclub on Commercial Street West was evacuated in the early hours of Sunday morning when a carbon dioxide (CO2) alarm was activated. Read more

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SES calls for patience

July 3, 2009

Mount Gambier SES unit manager Wayne Usher has asked people needing assistance to be patient during bad weather due to high demand.

“People may rest assured their call will be placed in a queue and answered as soon as possible,” Mr Usher said. Read more

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