'Style, calm & commitment': Young local leads huge training operation

A complicated and high stakes training exercise at Gracetown brought together more than 50 emergency service personnel and volunteers over the weekend, with one local holding the reins during the mass casualty simulation.

At just 18 years of age, Joshua Yates is already an award winning filmmaker, volunteer firefighter and last year, put his hand up to take on the role of Training Manager for the Margaret River State Emergency Service (SES).

As well as weekly training sessions, Josh introduced a monthly scenario for the unit, and in October, he and fellow Training Manager Sarah Schuenemann, floated the idea of a major training scenario across multiple agencies.

Having pencilled-in Sunday May 4 – “Star Wars Day”, Josh notes – preparations began.

“It started small with just SJA and SES to be involved, but once we decided to move to a beach location I realised we could involve VMR and SLSC as well,” Josh told the Mail. “Soon it scaled up, which was incredibly exciting, and probably about 4 months ago I realised that I was the person who would end up running it, as I had created the idea and brought everyone together to plan it.

“I headed up all the planning, arranging meetings with the heads or representatives of each agency, and creating many documents to collate details and share between each other.

“It was incredibly fun, and the heads of each agency were incredibly helpful – they were all so committed and keen, and every time we’d have a meeting I’d come away feeling so much more motivated and excited to see it come together!”

After months of planning and communicating, Josh’s final training document was more than 30 pages long.

“Coming up with a scenario where everyone had a role and could do that role somewhat together, not separated into different areas, involved a lot of thought and creativity. We also had to manage different agencies rules and restrictions around what can and can’t be done at a training.”

Also putting a damper on plans was a forecast for showers and storms, potentially halting water rescue due to the rough conditions.

“We didn’t want actors or manikins to face the extreme rain and wind, so we had to watch the conditions very carefully. We got really lucky on the day to have great weather which worked in our favour.”

Having collected a swag of awards for his filmmaking talents and with a series of short films under his belt, Josh said the skills associated with managing a production translated well to his SES role, allowing him to oversee the successful exercise.

“The response was incredibly efficient, and in a matter of hours without additional resources we had every casualty found and sorted across a large land and sea area.

“Everyone here was someone who cares deeply for their community, and it was really reassuring to see how effective, proficient and integrated our emergency services are.”

Wallcliffe Brigade spokesperson and fellow volunteer firey, Sean Blocksidge, said Josh’s leadership and organisational abilities were mind-blowing.

“It was a high-stakes, high-coordination operation that would make even the most seasoned incident controller pause for breath,” he said.

“He pulled it off with style, calm, and commitment… We’re claiming him for both SES and Wallcliffe Brigade – heck, the whole community should be proud of this one!”