The Rosewood group were host to the quarterly unit exercise. The theme this year was 'Rescue'.

The exercise was conducted on top of a hill overlooking Rosewood township and included the rescue of a fisherman in the middle of a dam, a parachutist up a tree, a lost person and a vehicle recovery. 

Although the night was chilly 38 members braved the elements and finished the exercise within the time limits set. To finish off the night a BBQ meal was provided which consisted of a roast beef & gravy roll and a hamburger.

Marburg group were host to the quarterly unit exercise recently.
The exercise was held at Hanel's farm in Marburg. The scenario was that the township was rocked by a severe earth tremor. The Marburg SES were conducting a traffic control course on the property and were involved in a severe accident there. Also the farmer and his friend could not be located. The mission was to locate and rescue all. Over 50 members participated and all said they were looking forward to the next one.

The Unit recently held a flood exercise to test the readiness of the unit. The Goodna Group was given the task to plan an exercise relating to severe weather, mainly flooding. 

The group got together and came up with a great idea, one that would involve the building used by the Goodna Cadets. A volume of water would threaten the side of the building which houses the toilets. The exercise involved building a large swimming pool that held approximately 2000 litres of water. This was released by collapsing the pool and flooding the building. Members from the other groups has 90 minutes to build a sand bag wall to prevent the disaster. 

While this was going on a number of teams had to perform other tasks. One was to cut up a tree that had fallen on to the building and another had to evacuate the building and set up a welfare centre whilst a third had to do a reconnaissance and report back to headquarters with answers to given questions.

The Ipswich City Unit held their quarterly exercise recently at the RAAF Amberley Airbase.

The exercise was written and organised by the Rosewood Group and the scenario was that a violent and sudden storm had hit a camping area catching a number of campers unawares and out in the open. As a result eight people were injured and trapped under fallen branches and trees with a further three people unaccounted for.

Three teams were sent out to locate and render first aid to the casualties and then transport them to a triage centre. Because the venue was away from a built up area, we were able to use generators (for lighting etc.) and chainsaws to rescue casualties without disturbing any neighbours.

Forty members participated on a chilly night and all found it to be an excellent training event and venue.

To ensure that the unit has sufficient accredited chainsaw operators, courses are run on a regular basis. These courses are not for men only and women are strongly encouraged to apply and take part whenever a course is being held.
Some members even take it a step further and become chainsaw instructors.

The Unit held a training weekend recently to familiarise members with working from heights kits.
The weekend entailed a session in the class room revising knots, ladders, tarp placement and safe working loads. Members were also put through a session of putting on the harnesses and safe tie down points.
The last session was to tarp a roof and roof safety. All members wanting to work on roofs will have to undertake this course.