Its female members take on a variety of roles, including road crash rescue, water operations, and land searches for missing people.
While some people may think that only men use heavy-duty tools, drive trucks, or cut people out of vehicles, this isn’t the case.
The search and rescue squad’s female volunteers have the skills and knowledge to carry out all these tasks, with the unit aiming to build the confidence and leadership among its female members.
Montana Jordan is one of the squad’s volunteers and loves the skills and challenges she has acquired since joining.
She has also become the squad secretary during the past couple of years and is doing a fantastic job.
When asked, Montana explained what it meant to her to be part of the squad.
She said the ability to help the community and build on skills, while facing challenges, was what she loved about volunteering.
Judi Cantwell is a joint member, and controller, of the Echuca SES unit.
The skills and knowledge she has to help the squad, and other members, are outstanding.
She has recently become an executive member of the squad, mentoring some of the younger members.
She is always there to lend a hand, but also a great person to listen if members need to talk.
Soon after Caitlin Whitney joined search and rescue she became a qualified rescue operator, with a background in truck mechanics helping her along the way.
Her knowledge and skills in helping is a great attribute to the squad.
The squad strives to teach and be supportive of extra skills and courses that members want to undertake.
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