A rocky road for volunteers during tough driver training

Off-road driving is a fact of Kimberley life for most people living in one of the last great wilderness areas of Australia.

So is getting bogged.

For Broome’s State Emergency Service, a volunteer organisation that provides emergency help during storms and cyclones, floods, fires, road crashes, bush rescues and other disasters, fourwheel driving skills are vital.

Broome SES unit manager Laurie Hicks said the terrain his volunteers have to tackle during searches or rescues is invariably bushy, rocky, muddy, sandy or waterlogged.

This month, six SES volunteers and two instructors took their vehicles out to 12 Mile Quarry and James Price Point for a two day intensive 4WD course.

“We were out from 7am Saturday and Sunday,” Mr Hicks said.

“A couple of people got bogged – one woman had never driven a manual vehicle before – so she did extremely well.”

Mr Hicks said the course taught skills and techniques in handling a vehicle safely and swiftly in rough and treacherous terrain.

The next SES course would focus on how to recover a vehicle once bogged and another, navigation skills.

The Broome SES comprises around 20 volunteers. They meet for physical training weekly, on Monday evenings, and run different courses every month.

The SES is actively seeking more volunteers and can be contacted on 0417 937 073 or at broomeses@westnet.com.au.