Director-General praises flood recovery efforts

Department of Community Safety Director-General Jim McGowan last week visited Warwick to personally thank emergency services staff and volunteers for their tireless efforts throughout the December and January floods.
Mr McGowan, a former Warwick boy, visited the Warwick State Emergency Services (SES) headquarters and met with local Queensland Fire and Rescue Service (QFRS) and Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) crews to show his appreciation of their dedication to the town and its residents.
While Warwick escaped the national spotlight during Queensland’s extreme weather events, Mr McGowan acknowledged the hardships faced by the local community and praised the collaborative strength of personnel involved in the preparation, response and recovery phases.
“The floods were an excellent example of the cooperation and teamwork between all agencies in the area, especially for QAS and QFRS which have been sharing premises after the fire station and area office sustained major flood damage,” Mr McGowan said.
“Warwick staff and volunteers have shown enormous community spirit these past couple of months, with local emergency services personnel having also travelled to the worst affected areas of Queensland to offer a helping hand.”
SES volunteers from Warwick were deployed to St George, Goondiwindi, Townsville, Innisfail and Tully, where a taskforce is currently performing Cyclone Yasi clean-up operations.
“Meanwhile back home, a strong group of around 25 volunteers responded to 100 jobs from Warwick’s two floods including evacuations, sandbagging and the clean-up,’’ Mr McGowan said.
“Before both floods, these volunteers were also responsible for door-knocking to warn residents in 150 homes in the area.”
Mr McGowan said QAS also deployed a local advanced care paramedic to assist in Grantham and QFRS deployed a firefighter for swift water rescue operations and to assist the public in flood relief in Dalby, Condamine and Chinchilla.