Playing with the big boys toys

Today our SES unit had a training day with the Police rescue Squad and the Surf Lifesaving Association rescue helicopter.

We were training on the sandstone cliffs just near the helicopter base at La Perouse, just inside the Botany Bay National Park. When the Police arrived, they discovered that their key to the gate didn’t work and so they employed the ‘universal key” (bolt cutters) to cut the padlock and gain access. The cops had a realistically weighted (70kg) dummy which we placed at the bottom of a cliff and then set up a Larkin frame at the top of the cliff to set up a hauling line. We lowered a person to the bottom of the cliff followed by a Stokes litter (stretcher). We then put the body in the Stokes and hauled it back up the cliff.

Later in the day we took the body in the stretcher out to the rock platforms and the helicopter came and winched it up to the cliff top.

All in all, lots of fun and getting to play with some new equipment. The SES and Rescue Squad are now familiar with how the other works and they are confident that we will be able to help each other out if the need arises.