By Jesse Graham
Update: Tuesday, 9 June
A DEDICATION to helping others for nearly 15 years has earned national recognition for Healesville SES’s Karen Picone, who was awarded an Emergency Service Medal yesterday.
Ms Picone was awarded the medal as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours, which acknowledges extraordinary Australians, on Monday 8 June.
After moving to Healesville in 1999, Ms Picone started working with the State Emergency Service in November 2001, originally signing up to do fund-raising work.
She then rose through the ranks to become Deputy Controller, before taking the top spot as Controller about nine years ago.
Her award recognised her work with the SES, her “strength of character” and problem-solving solutions, particularly during the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires.
Ms Picone said the particular way emergency services teams pulled together to help their communities during the fires were the most memorable times in her career.
After setting up a staging area in Warragul on Saturday 7 February 2009, Ms Picone’s pager started going off with alerts from the Yarra Valley as the fires drew closer.
“We got three rescues within about five minutes, which is unheard of,” she said.
“There was no phone contact, so every time I finally got phone service, all I did was listen to phone messages, and then it got lost again.
“The guys had done an amazing job without me here for that first 24 hours.”
Returning to the town the next day, the team set to work at the staging area at the Don Road Sporting Complex in Healesville, and was the first SES crew to get into Kinglake and Marysville after the fires destroyed the towns.
Ms Picone said the SES ran body recovery until the army was brought in, and that she and her deputy controller visited the relief centres daily to meet survivors and try to help them through their grief.
The whole time during their work, the threat to Healesville and its surrounds remained from the fires, but she said this did not stop the volunteers from coming out in force to help.
“We were under threat for four weeks – we’d be going home not knowing if we had a house to go home to each time,” Ms Picone said.
She said that, though the SES was held in high regard in the community, many people forget that all members, regardless of rank, were volunteers.
Though she runs her own transport company, Ms Picone said she was still able to find the time to contribute to the emergency service.
“The fact that I work for myself makes it easier for me than most people, because I can just take work with me,” she said.
“I’ve got brilliant customers who understand my life and work around my commitments with SES, and I’ve got an amazing family that just puts up with it all.
“It’s just a matter of time management.”
At the moment, Ms Picone said she had taken a brief break from her SES work, but that she had been supported by her crew.
“I have a pretty busy life, and I needed a break, so I’ve taken that,” she said.
“Between Gary Ule, the Regional Officer, and Geoff Stott, they’ve enabled me to have the break so that’s been great.
“We’re a team, we’re a family – we look after each other.”
The Emergency Services Medal will complement Ms Picone’s National Emergency Medal, which she received for her work in the 2009 bushfires.
