New Albany SES home officially opened by Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson

A new “state-of-the-art” facility for one of the busiest State Emergency Service units in WA was officially opened in Albany on Saturday by Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson. The $3 million centre on Mercer Road is capable of operating as a level three incident response centre, which means it will be able to co-ordinate multiple agencies to combat complex incidents. Funding for the build was announced in January last year, with the aim to which will replace the existing volunteer service’s much smaller base of operations on Sanford Road. At the time of the announcement, the Sanford Road base — which was operational for 38 years — was described as “no longer fit for purpose”. Albany SES manager Robert Boyes said different local managers had been working towards establishing a new headquarters for more than 15 years. He said there had been a “few false starts” after blocks offered to the volunteer group organisation on Troode Street and Newbey Street were ultimately unsuitable. “It went backwards and forwards a few times with multiple meetings,” he said. “This location was one Ron (Panting) had looked at probably 15 years ago and we thought would be ideal because we want access to the main roads to go in any direction. “It’s also on high ground which is good for our communications systems.” The Albany SES, often credited as being one of WA’s busiest, has more than 70 members who have contributed more than 1647 volunteer hours since the start of 2022. Mr Boyes said being able to use the headquarters as a control centre for major incidents would enable much smoother handling of responses involving multiple agencies because previously they would have been “spread everywhere”. “We would have just done our best before,” he said. “We would have had people down at the SES unit and the regional operations centre, it’s just spread everywhere and it could be very uncoordinated. “When the Stirlings fires were on, that was being run out of the DBCA’s place on Albany Highway — that was extremely congested and there were staging points further out just to spread it a bit.” Land for the new headquarters was donated by the City of Albany and allowed for the construction of a storage shed more than twice the size of the one on Sanford Road. It also means that all the unit’s appliances can now be kept on site, including its incident control vehicle which was previously kept at the fire station because of height limitations. “The bonus is the trailer shed out the back,” Mr Boyes said. “It was going to be six bays in the main shed, but we traded off one for the shed out the back which is much more useful because we’ve got things we don’t use much in there — like the ... light tower, and all-terrain utility which only gets out occasionally. “The training area is much better than what we had as well, but the other main thing is that it’s comfortable here.” Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson said the new premises would allow the Albany SES to store all its resources. “The old Albany SES was so outdated the unit had to accommodate key appliances and equipment off site,” he said. “For 40 years, the Albany SES has had a proud history of service — whether it be floods, storms, fires, or searches — and this new facility is a valuable resource to ensure the unit can continue to meet the needs of the community.” DFES Commissioner Darren Klemm said Albany SES had responded to 263 incidents, including storms, fires, major rescues, and road accidents over the past two years. “The new headquarters will put our volunteers in a better position to manage those responses — and the facility can now also be activated as a level three Incident Control Centre — increasing the unit’s emergency services capabilities,” he said. “Additional training programs will also be able to be undertaken at the new base and hopefully it can encourage more volunteers to join the emergency services family.”