Southcare helicopter gives forestry industry a demo

The Snowy Hydro SouthCare helicopter on Wednesday 25 July gave an emergency evacuation demonstration to the forest industry in Buccleuch State Forest east of Tumut.

Forest Industry Council (FIC) executive officer, David Priem, who organised the demonstration said it was important that the industry had a good understanding of SouthCare’s evacuation procedures.

FIC in the past has coordinated donations from its members for SouthCare. "It is important to support this vital emergency service in order to help save lives in the forest industry as well as the general community," Mr Priem said.

Approximately 30 people from across the forest industry attended the day, which also provided an excellent opportunity for SouthCare to get a clearer picture of how the forest industry operates in an emergency.

The helicopter gave a demonstration of winching a person in and out of the helicopter, followed by a run down on the information they require from the forest industry to carry out a successful rescue.

Forests NSW wood flow scheduler, Tijmen Klootwijk, said it was a great opportunity to get a better understanding of what was required of the industry in the event of an accident to make the whole evacuation process a lot quicker and smoother.

"A couple of years ago Forests NSW staff made a donation to SouthCare and it was good to see the helicopter in action.

"We rarely call upon the service, but it is very comforting to know it is there and that if you are injured you will be in good hands," he said.

Through FIC, the forest industry is working on ways to improve communication between people on the ground and the helicopter service.

"We looked at improved radio communications, as the forest industry relies heavily on UHF radios, while the helicopter doesn’t normally use them," Mr Klootwijk said.

"Another aspect of the day examined how we could better indicate wind speed from the ground to helicopter.

"The day also highlighted how SouthCare would be able to tie in with Forests NSW Emergency Meeting Points, and we provided them with a map of all our areas and emergency points.

"This was very constructive as the more information we can give them in an emergency the more successful the operation will be."