Simple thank yous make it all worthwhile for SES stalwart

In early December, 2010 the city and surrounds were in the grip of drought. But on December 13, 130mm dumped over the city filling Pejar Dam for the first time since 1999 and sending a torrent of water down the Wollondilly River.

Near Goulburn Golf Club, a young couple clung to a tree on the river, awaiting rescue. Mr Bell, the then Goulburn SES controller, and his crew landed their rescue boat nearby.

"Trees were crashing everywhere but we managed to get them out...We turned and a huge tree headed to where we'd just been. It was very dodgy," he said.

It was one of six rescues the SES performed that day in what was described as a one in 20-year flood event.

Mr Bell reflected this week on just some of the happenings in a 28-year volunteer career with the SES. He 'retired' in October but has quietly worked in the background since, handing over to his successor, Jason Bell (no relation).

The notion of service was ingrained from early. The son of a military man, Mr Bell spent 15 years in the Australian Army before joining Bungendore SES in 1996. He'd also had a stint in the town's RFS unit.

The 1997 Thredbo landslide disaster that claimed 18 lives was his first major operation. Over three trips he helped retrieve people, working in cold conditions on a steep slope. Mr Bell said the experience was traumatic.

Sole survivor, ski instructor Stuart Diver, was found alive on day three, by which time Mr Bell had left.

"The day before, we'd been working almost on top of him," he said.

"...Even on day one, there were people still skiiing on the slopes. It struck me that out of the whole operation, life goes on."

In 1996, Mr Bell transferred to Goulburn and three years later was appointed the city's SES controller.

Goulburn was in drought. He established a training program and sought to understand the environment and community. He also became a flood rescuer, a skill deployed many times over the years.

Mr Bell's vast local knowledge has proved invaluable to hundreds of volunteers but he was quick to play this down.

"It's experience," he said.

"You can't pick up a book and learn this because every flood is different. At the end of 2022, 30mm of rain was giving us flooding in town but our trigger is actually 50mm. We're a designated flash flood area.

"...But (in late November) we had 110mm over 48 hours, which would normally give us flooding. It didn't because Crookwell only had 30mm and water from the 140mm in parts of Windellama ran the opposite way."

Asked whether events had increased in intensity, Mr Bell said it was "just another cycle." Australia experienced a drought or flood every five to 10 years.

But the SES response has kept pace. In 1999, the Goulburn unit worked out of a small "tin shed" in Lanigan Lane. The kitchen sink sat on two milk crates and messages were jotted down on paper. The unit now operates from a fully equipped larger tin shed across the road and everything is computerised. Crews work in the field with iPads.

Next year the SES will shift to a larger $3.9 million emergency operations centre off Hetherington Street.

In the late 1990s there was an old 'milk truck' for rescues. These days there are four vehicles, a truck and three flood boats. Volunteers are trained in flood rescue but can progress higher, enabling them to enter flood waters.

Mr Bell has undertaken specialised rescue courses in the UK.

He was appointed the SES' Argyle cluster commander in 2011, managing volunteers in Goulburn, Windellama, Collector, Crookwell and Bigga.

"Managing volunteers is different to managing people in a paid job," he said.

"People turn up week after week because they love it and not for the pay...There is great camaraderie. The rewarding part is sitting back at the end of an incident and saying 'that was good with the resources we had.'"

Mr Bell said his greatest reward was seeing parents' expressions after a child had been rescued, or the simple thank you when SES crews repaired roofs ripped off by wind.

He suspects he'll never stop checking his phone when it looks like rain or helping out when needed. After "27 years and 319" days in the role, it's a little hard to shake.

"At the end of the day, we're all here to help the community. It's everyone's goal," Mr Bell said.