Personal tragedy leads man to join SES and become dedicated community volunteer

After his dad died from a heart attack on a rural property, Will Flood decided to join the SES to help his community in times of need.

“Ever since then I’ve just wanted to be there for the community because the help was too far away for dad at the time,” he said.

The 25-year-old said it’s not about the uniform and the awards, it’s about being there for the community.

The former commander of the NSW SES Gilgandra Unit took him under his wing and within 13 months he was a fully qualified general land rescue operator.

Living in the small country town of Gilgandra, about an hour north of Dubbo in Central Western NSW, Mr Flood has responded to a few incidents involving his friends.

“Being a small community we know pretty much where roughly everyone lives, so you get the call come through and you know whose house it is,” he said.

“You switch on the professional volunteer and then as soon as we’re finished whatever we’re doing we switch back over to the friend or relative.”

One rescue that struck a chord with Mr Flood was when he unknowingly freed his colleague’s sister who was trapped in a multi-vehicle accident.

“I asked my friend to cover my shift at work so I could go out on the rescue, and it wasn’t until days later that I found out the people we rescued were actually her sister and nieces,” he said.

“She was incredibly appreciative that we got them out of the car and straight to the ambulance. She was lost for words.

“You get a lot of satisfaction knowing you were able to get there, get them out safely and get them the help they need.”

Mr Flood works full time at the local home timber and hardware store where he is also the truck driver, delivering supplies to local farms.

He has also volunteered for the Royal Fire Service for the last three years.

Mr Flood’s boss at the hardware store is also the unit commander, so when his SES pager sounds, he heads out to help the community.

One training highlight Mr Flood enjoys participating in is a “road crash rescue challenge” that involves a team from every rescue unit across the state competing in realistic rescue scenarios.

Mr Flood has also completed training to be able to respond to floods when they come to his community.

“The last couple of (floods) we knew the water was coming, so it was just a watch and wait,” he said.

“You do water checks and property checks and make sure people that are isolated have food if they don’t want to leave.”

Mr Flood went out to Dubbo during the 2022-23 floods and helped rescue people who had driven through floodwater thinking they could make it but had ultimately become stuck.

During his time there, he and another volunteer ended up being the ones needing assistance after their truck broke down.

“We were going around to the bridges, checking the water levels and seeing if they were rising, staying steady or dropping,” he said.

“We went out to Narromine had some lunch and (were coming) back when the old vehicle we had decided to die on us on the side of the highway.”

While they were waiting for a tow truck and someone to come get them, they got a call out for a flood rescue a few kilometres from where they had broken down.

“So we decided to leave the car, grab our life jackets and our bags and just started walking down the highway, hoping someone would pick us up along the way,” he said.

“There’s a photo of us floating around somewhere … of us walking down the road fully kitted out for a flood rescue.”

Despite already being trained as an on-water flood tech, Mr Flood will travel to Penrith next month to complete further in-water flood training.

Mr Flood also responds to animal rescues such as dogs trapped in wells, a kitten stuck under a house, and even the rescue of a 38-year-old horse from a large hole.

He said the SES was there when the community needed them, particularly in a small town.

“I don’t expect an 87-year-old to go and tarp a roof or fix a window that’s been hit by a branch,” he said.

“We do it for the community. Wearing orange is more than just a uniform, it’s a sense of pride.”