The mobile police command centre set up at a bomb site in Derrinallum was just one of many emergency services vehicles on display at Lake Pertobe on Saturday.
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The inaugural South West Emergency Services Capability Forum was held in Warrnambool and hosted by the Moyne and Warrnambool Municipal Emergency Management Planning Committee.
Emergency services agencies spent the morning sharing their specialist knowledge, while the community viewed the equipment in the afternoon and discussed plans for better preparation during an emergency.
Agencies included Ambulance Victoria, CFA, VIC SES, DELWP, Forest Fire Management, Coast Guard, Marine Rescue, Victoria Police and Red Cross and more.
The Hamilton CFA set up a property advice trailer built by the Coleraine Men’s Shed.
Bobbie-Lee Nelson, from the Hamilton CFA fire emergency management, said the trailer was a visual teaching tool that showed people what a well-prepared home looked like during bushfire season.
“On one side it is quite obvious that there are things around the home that you could fix. There’s grass growing in the gutters, dead shrubbery overhanging the home and the lawn is out of control,” she said.
“On the other side, the lawn is green and short, the house is clearly identifiable with a number and the mulch has been replaced with pebbles.”
During the day, St Johns Ambulance workers taught community members the seven steps of CPR, while children enjoyed climbing inside fire trucks and the police watercraft.
Also on show was the mobile police command centre.
Leading Senior Constable Damien Chalkley said the centre was set up at the 2014 Derrinallum bomb site for about two weeks.
“The command center is set up at crime scenes or search rescues. It is essentially a mobile police station that you can park anywhere you want,” he said.
“It usually goes to major events in the state such as fires and floods, the recent incidents at Bourke and Flinders streets in Melbourne and also the Grand Prix,” he said.
The command centre is inside a 440 horse-powered truck that takes just 30 minutes to be fully operational and provides communication, video, computer and food services.
A free BBQ was provided by the Rotary Club of Warrnambool, with hot drinks and pancakes served by the Rapid Relief catering team.
