By Taylah Eastwell
A heartless robbery at Upper Yarra SES has stripped the local unit of over $20,000 worth of critical lifesaving equipment during a peak period for road accident callouts.
Upper Yarra SES Unit Controller Michael Young said a member went down to the Wesburn facility on Wednesday 30 January when he noticed things were not quite right inside the unit.
“He had a bit of a look around and saw we’d been broken into,” Mr Young explained.
It is understood the unit’s alarm system had a fault and was in the process of being replaced. The robbery is believed to have occurred in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The thieves stole a set of road rescue hydraulic cutters that the SES unit had purchased through community fundraising. Often referred to as the ‘Jaws of Life’, the cutters are a vital piece of equipment used to free trapped passengers from vehicles after an accident.
“What they are going to use them for, I’ve not no idea. I found it very odd that that’s what they took,” Mr Young said.
The theft of one of only two sets of road rescue hydraulics from the unit means emergency crews can now only respond to one person at a time if multiple people are trapped in a road accident.
“It just makes you sick. I’ve been a member for 24 years and it feels like someone’s broken into my home,” Mr Young said.
With rain and thunderstorms forecast in coming days and the festive period notorious for road accidents, the theft has reduced the capacity of volunteers to provide appropriate road rescue response during a vital time of year.
“We got called out to a car accident on Sunday night and that second set of cutters would of made things a heck of a lot easier.
The crooks also stole two chainsaws, a small hydraulic pump for the cutters and a hose.
Upper Yarra Deputy Unit Controller Cam McDonald said the SES volunteers have been left devastated.
“After the year we’ve all had, it’s just a really frustrating way to end the year. Hopefully someone realises this is pretty specialist equipment and doesn’t have much broader use and they just return it,” he said.
The VICSES Upper Yarra Unit have responded to a total of 342 requests for assistance in the past 12 months.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
