AN underwater search and rescue camera that can help retrieve people from vehicles and locate dead bodies is proving an asset for State Emergency Service volunteers in Orange.
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Orange SES controller Rob Stevens said the $5000 camera is one of only three in Australia and was donated by Rotary Orange Daybreak.
Mr Stevens said the camera has been in use for about 12 months but a handover event was delayed due to the pandemic and the SES volunteers having to attend various emergencies.
He said the underwater camera would replace grappling hooks when it comes to finding bodies in water but it has not been used for such a recovery yet in Orange.
"In this particular area there's [previously] been body recoveries out at Lake Canobolas," Mr Stevens said.
He said the camera could be attached to a nine-metre pole and feed back colour footage to a monitor on a boat and reduce the need for police divers to come from Sydney.
"You can find them without damaging the body and we can hand that SD card over to the police as a brief of evidence," he said.
"It works great under water as well as on land.
"There's only three of these sets in Australia."
It has been lent to other units for searches at Moree and Wellington and inside tornado-damaged dwellings near Armidale since the SES received it.
Mr Stevens said the Orange SES used it to search a partially submerged vehicle at Dixons Long Point Crossing, which was thankfully empty, and they also used it to read the vehicle's number plate without having to get personnel into the fast-running water.
Rotary Club of Orange Daybreak president Bruce Smith said the camera donation started with a conversation about flood rescues with the SES.
Mr Smith said that conversation was followed by a unanimous decision by the board and members of Rotary Orange Daybreak to fundraise for specialist equipment.
The generosity of the Orange community then culminated in the handover of search and rescue camera equipment to the Orange SES.
"We really wanted to ensure that any equipment we fundraised for would not only increase the SES's rescue capability but would have the benefit of keeping their volunteers safe while doing so," he said.
"It is fantastic to see that not only has the rescue camera already been used to help the local Orange community but it has also been used in recent operations in Lismore and Moree."
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Tanya Marschke
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
