Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke visited Gundagai SES today to present a funding cheque for $3600 to boost their rescue capabilities.
The grant will enable the purchase of night-vision binoculars which will enable greater success in searches, particularly in low-light conditions.
“The SES Unit at Gundagai are a fantastic group who do absolutely invaluable work,” Ms Cooke said.
“They are provided with a wide array of equipment to help them carry out work, and this funding will give them a further boost.” Ms Cooke added.
Ross Tout, Gundagai SES Unit Controller, said the infra-red capabilities of the binoculars will be a significant addition to their toolkit.
“It allows us to conduct searches at night, we can use the infra-red to spot heat signatures from a long way away,” Mr Tout said.
“Any living thing glows brightly when viewed in infra-red and this makes it so much easier to find somebody in the dark – we will be able to have several people searching in the pitch black.
“In all honesty, though, we hope we don’t have to use the things because sometimes searches can have unhappy endings,” Mr Tout added.
