By Casey Neill
For Inspector Bob Raaymakers, the 10th anniversary of the Black Saturday Bushfires has sparked reflection.
“You do reflect on what you did and where were you at certain times and also, I suppose historically, being involved in something so significant is quite overwhelming at times,” he said.
The Tecoma local was the sector commander looking after the Yarra Valley area in 2009.
In 2011 he received an Australian Police Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his efforts.
His Saturday 7 February started about 5.30am, touching base with colleagues and other agencies.
“We knew it was going to be a bad day and we knew it would really test our resolve and our arrangements,” Insp Raaymakers said.
“As the day went on, we knew if something did happen it would be significant and unstoppable.”
He saturated the Yarra Glen area with police as the fires encroached to “provide some community reassurance” and manage traffic.
“We were also managing people trying to self-evacuate or get back to their properties,” he said.
“I was also mindful of where police members were from the point of view of their own safety.”
Insp Raaymakers said the calls for assistance police received that day were hard to cope with.
“The real thing that really pulled on my heartstrings was there were areas where we just couldn’t send fire services or ambos or police members into because it was just too dangerous,” he said.
“We still had people in the emergency services putting themselves in harm’s way to protect the community, to save them.”
In the immediate aftermath, officers helped to identify victims and provided the community with reassurance and advice.
“I remember going to a number of community meetings at Healesville, Yarra Junction and Warburton. We had fires going for weeks afterwards,” Insp Raaymakers said.
“In times like that you really have an overwhelming sense of duty, a sense of purpose, and you must keep focused on what your roles and responsibilities are.
“You push aside your own needs.”
He remained involved in community meetings as survivors started to clean up and rebuild.
Insp Raaymakers is now the regional emergency management inspector, based at Knox.
“A lot of my day to day activities are around preparation for emergencies in the area,” he said.
“I’ve thrown myself back into the fire quite literally.
“There’s a real strong focus on the part of the police that work in the area to prevent this sort of thing from happening again.
“There’s a resolve.”
