All go for SES

By Melissa Meehan
The week’s first call came at 1.40pm on Monday, to a car accident on the South Gippsland Highway Tooradin.
On Tuesday volunteers of the Pakenham Road Rescue Unit (volunteers from Pakenham SES and Nar Nar Goon CFA) were called to the Monash Freeway near Soldiers Road.
On arrival they came across a car which had crashed through the wire rope barrier before side-swiping the bridge pylon where the car came to rest.
Later in the day, a male presented himself to the Pakenham CFA station after an insect bite led to the swelling of his ring finger, which required the ring to be cut off to prevent further injury.
At 4.10pm on Wednesday (1 June 2011), rescuers received what would prove to be the most critical job of the week.
Receiving initial reports of a car crash at Princes Highway, near Thewlis Road, crews rushed to the scene to find a two-car collision in which one car was T-boned by another car, shunting his car some 30 metres from the intersection onto the median strip, narrowly missing a pole.
The driver of one car was significantly trapped, the rescue made harder for the PRRU as the car was on a slight embankment that was quite wet and muddy.
On Friday morning Pakenham SES crews were woken by their pagers after a fire at the Timbarra Primary School in Berwick.
While it was the CFA who extinguished the fire, SES crews were required on scene until after daybreak to provide lighting.
On Saturday, while Cardinia residents slept, shopped and relaxed at home, the Pakenham SES was again responding to a call for assistance, this time from police. SES volunteers assisted Victoria Police in the search for a 13-year-old Gembrook girl.
The girl was found alive and well on Saturday afternoon.
The Pakenham Road Rescue Unit is a joint partnership between volunteers from the Pakenham SES and Nar Nar Goon CFA.