The Wanneroo/Joondalup SES were recently called to assist in a search for a missing 56-year-old woman in the Perry’s Paddock area just off Ocean Reef road. The woman was last seen leaving her car on a nearby road and heading South.  Steve Faulkner the Duty Officer received the initial call at approximately 1630.  The first request was for the Tracker Dogs and a SES liaison officer to assist in the search.  On the way to the search Steve picked up Dave Brennen the Deputy Local manager who assumed the role of Liaison Officer and Field Search Controller.  Once on site Dave offered the use of our 2 quad bikes to start carrying out a recce of the bike tracks and bush in the immediate area.  A request was placed to the Police for a search by Polair with the FLIR but we were advised it wouldn’t of been beneficial in the terrain we were in.

I arrived on site shortly before the quad bikes and assumed the role of operations officer.  The Police had a mobile command post at the scene but not operational at this stage so we set about making it operational.  One house down from where we were operating a house was under construction so this provided the facilities desirable in a interim FSHQ.  We were able to plug into mains 240 volt power which meant no noisy generator to talk over, water was on tap and most importantly a Porta-Loo was operational.  The house was close to lockup so it would also provide additional shelter if the night turned cold and/or wet.

The Tracker dogs arrived while we were setting up and commenced to search from the last known point, which in this case was the person’s car.  Craig Greenbank was the Liaison officer for the tracker dogs and was soon concerned about welfare so Pat la Frentz was called who promptly delivered 20 meals to site.  We also place a request for lighting to be delivered to site, which was provided in the form of our lighting balloons.  These provide an excellent soft light with minimal shadow and being portable can be placed in strategic locations.

We were now fully operational and prepared to ramp up the search as required by the Police Officer in charge.  As it so happens he came strolling over at this time to say a disorientated woman had been found in Joondalup who matched the description.  Shortly after it was confirmed she was the missing person and the search was called off.  We recalled all teams and had welfare before packing up and leaving the scene. 

Although this particular search didn’t progress past the Recce stage I believe it was successful from an operational point of view.  I always try to stress that just because we have numerous generators available for use we don’t always need them and we should look for alternate ways of powering our requirements.  If the search had progressed we would of  soon outgrown the area we were in but buildings were available in Perry’s Paddock with plenty of space to expand for parking and assembly.