REPORT ON THE HILLS SHIRE
LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES FOR 2013
All correspondence to be addressed to the:
Local Emergency Management Officer
The Hills Shire Council, PO Box 7046, Baulkham Hills BC 2153 Telephone: (02) 9843 0205 Fax: (02) 9843 0409
INTRODUCTION
This report has been prepared to highlight issues and activities relating to The Hills Shire Local Emergency Management Committee over the period of 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2013.
MEETINGS
The Local Emergency Management Committee met on the following dates during the year:
• 4th March 2013
• 1st July 2013
• 4th November 2013 COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP
As at the close of the year, the Local Emergency Management Committee is comprised of eight members, representing the following emergency response organisations:-
• The Hills Shire Council (Chair and Local Emergency Management Officer (LEMO))
• Local Emergency Operations Controller (LEOCON)
• NSW Police Force (The Hills and Hawkesbury Local Area Commands (LACs))
• Fire and Rescue NSW (F & R NSW)
• NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS)
• NSW State Emergency Service (SES)
• Ambulance Service of NSW
Each member of the Committee is entitled to appoint a Deputy to act in the place of the member.
In addition, a number of regular observers are also invited to attend meetings of the Committee:-
• Regional Emergency Management Officer (REMO)
• Deputies of Members
• Welfare Services
• Agriculture and Animal Services
• Health Services
• Endeavour Energy
• Red Cross
• Westmead Hospital
• Healthscope Norwest Private Hospital
• Transroute Australia Pty Ltd/Transfield Services
• St John Ambulance
• Hillsbus
2013 CHANGES TO MEMBERSHIP
During the year there were significant changes to the membership of the Committee.
The LEOCON, Superintendent Phil Flogel (The Hills LAC) was seconded to a new role at the Department of Fair Trading and was replaced by Superintendent Robert Critchlow.
The Deputy LEOCON, Superintendent Jenny Young (Hawkesbury LAC) retired and was replaced by Superintendent Steve Egginton.
Elaine Davey from the Western Sydney Local Health District also retired. Elaine had been a long serving member of both the Local and Regional Emergency Management Committees where she had represented NSW Health with distinction. She played a very
active role in emergency management in Western Sydney over many years and her knowledge, experience and commitment will be missed.
LEMO LEAVE
During the year, the Local Emergency Management Officer (LEMO) was absent on leave for the following periods:
• 9th February to 24th February
• 18th March to 28th March
• 26th November to 15th December
The Alternate LEMO acted as LEMO during this period.
MEETING ATTENDANCE
During 2013 the following members and observers attended the Local Emergency Management Committee meetings:
Members 4th March
2013
1st July 2013
4th Nov.
2013
Michael Lathlean (Chair & LEMO)
Phil Flogel (LEOCON)
Robert Critchlow (LEOCON)
David Jones (Deputy LEOCON & Hawkesbury
LAC)
Steve Egginton (Deputy LEOCON & Hawkesbury LAC)
Daryn Middlebrook (The Hills LAC)
Evelyn Lester (SES)
Phil Bow (RFS)
Alex Scott (F & R NSW)
Andy Peake (F & R NSW)
Stephanie Radnidge (Ambulance Service)
Jason Stone (Ambulance Service)
Observers
Steve Coleman (Alternate LEMO)
Daniel Kenner (REMO)
Trish Den (Health Services)
Daren McMurray (Endeavour Energy)
Pat Hobday (Transfield Services)
Phil Deale (Westmead Hospital)
Hank Geerdick (Healthscope Norwest Private
Hospital)
Glen Streat (Red Cross)
Ian Beasley (St John Ambulance)
Glynis Cameron (The Hills LAC)
Jim Zarbro (The Hills LAC)
Greg Pipikos (Transroute Australia Pty Ltd)
Raymond Golzar (M2/Lane Cove Tunnel)
Todd Matthews (Transfield Services)
John Hojel (RFS)
Mark Zielonko (Hillsbus)
THE HILLS SES CONTROLLER EVELYN LESTER – CITIZEN OF THE YEAR
In conjunction with Council’s Australia Day celebrations for 2013, The Hills SES Controller Evelyn Lester was selected as the Citizen of the Year. Under Evelyn’s leadership The Hills SES unit is now one of the largest in the Sydney Western Division with well over 120 active members. Evelyn works tirelessly in managing the unit so that it is prepared to respond to events within the Shire and the State. In recent years Evelyn and other members of The Hills unit have also put their hand up to support interstate operations such as the Brisbane floods and areas in north Queensland affected by Cyclone Yasi.
Evelyn’s award not only recognises her own personal contribution to the Hills SES unit, but the contribution of all of its members and of course their families.
DISTRICT MEETINGS
The North West Metropolitan Emergency Management Region Committee held meetings during 2013 on the following dates:
• 22nd February 2013
• 5th July 2013
A meeting planned for 25th October 2013 was cancelled due to the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury bushfire crisis.
2013 AUSTRALIA DAY EXPO
The 2013 Australia Day Emergency Expo was the 22nd Expo to be conducted by the Local Emergency Management Committee. For the first year it was held in conjunction with Council's Australia Day celebrations in the Castle Hill Main Street precinct.
Thanks to participation by the various emergency services and support organisations, the Expo was reasonably well attended by members of the public. Unfortunately the amount of space available on site restricts the activities to static displays only and this will have to be considered for the planning of future events.
2013 CRESTWOOD FAIR
On Sunday 15th September members of the Committee and their respective organisations again participated in the annual Crestwood Fair at Crestwood Reserve, Baulkham Hills.
The Police, SES and RFS had information displays and activities for the public to view and participate in, as well as a number of vehicles and items of equipment to inspect.
F & R NSW also had an appliance and crew on-site who, along with the other organisations, participated in a mock car crash rescue.
First aid officers from St John Ambulance were also in attendance at the Fair and participated in the mock rescue.
TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The Committee continued to encourage members to undertake emergency management training. The distribution of training information was greatly enhanced during the year by regular information forwarded from Emergency Management NSW as well as the information listed on their website.
OTHER ISSUES CONSIDERED IN 2013
In addition to the issues included in this report, the following issues were also considered by the Local Emergency Management Committee during 2013:
• Relocation of Council’s Administration Centre to new premises in the Norwest Business Park. This will necessitate the establishment of an Emergency Operations Centre within the new building.
• Recent changes to the State Emergency and Rescue Management Act
• The proposed M2 to F3 Freeway link
• Preparation of a database containing a list of potentially vulnerable communities
• Reports from Member Organisations
On 18th July 2013 various members of the Committee participated in a stakeholders briefing on the North West Rail Link’s ‘Tunnel and Station Civil Construction’ (TSC) project. The briefing was conducted jointly by Transport for NSW and the successful TSC contractor, Thiess John Holland Dragados.
CONCLUSION
There were no incidents throughout the year that required the activation of the Local Emergency Management Committee. However representatives of member organisations actively participated in the recent Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury bushfire emergencies and once again provided assistance to other emergencies both within NSW and interstate.
I would like to thank all Committee Members and their organisations for their ongoing support and participation in the Committee’s activities throughout 2013 and look forward to working with them again during 2014.
I would also like to thank the Mayor, Councillors, General Manager and staff of The Hills Shire Council for their generous support to the Committee and its member organisations throughout the year.
Finally, I would also like to publicly thank Kelly Isbister, Lorrae Phillip, Michelle Cooper and Kerry Whitehead of Council for all the work they have done throughout the year to assist with the operation of the Committee.
Michael Lathlean Chair
THE HILLS SHIRE LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
