A tremendous and overwhelming response to the Emergency Callout for what started out to be an evacuation from the Royal National Park beaches due to the bushfires, which then turned into a support operation to extract a member of the public who had injured themselves while walking over rocks towards "The Pinnicles".

SurfCom had requested that the Saturday Patrol stay on after the 3:00 pm finish time as it was expected that between 100 and 200 people would be transported by boat from Garie and Era to Stanwell Park.

A decision was made to put a call out to the club members to support the rostered patrol with IRB Drivers and Crew, and members to assist in the transfers from IRB to the beach. Within 20 minites of the SMS the club had a fully equiped IRB on the beach, and in the next 30 minutes a second IRB was prepped and ready for action. At the same time SLSI Duty Officers and RWC (Jetskis) were heading to the Stanwell Park.

During this a member of the public called the surf club directly and said he was injured on the rocks at the north end of the beach, and would need assistance as he could not move. The WCC Lifeguard dispatched their Jetski to assist, it took a couple of phone calls and passes of the Jetski to locate the injured person.

Club lifesavers assisted patrol the flagged area while the 2 WCC Lifeguards stabilised the patient, the club lifesavers also helped by carrying the lifeguard First Aid Kits and Oxygen Equipment to the north end of the beach...great job Karl Gibbs and Lachlan McDonald. Karl and Lachlan then provided assistance to paramedics who arrived on the beach, including making the radio call to establish a landing area in the reserve for a helicopter.

Club lifesavers were dispatched to the reserve to setup the helicopter landing area in readiness, this included moving the large number of public who had gathered for picnics, etc. as usual.

At about 5:00 pm the evacuation plan was called off, and all the surf life saving assets were stood down.

At approx. 5:20 pm the TOLL Air Ambulance extracted the patient from the rocks and flew him to hospital.

Thanks to all of the club members who answered the call and came to the beach, and also to the members who contacted the club to see if they were needed to provide assistance. Members who attended the club and were prepared to assist in anyway were,

• Carl Williams
• Karl Weber
• Stephen Pearce
• Geoff Ryder
• Luke and Drew Walsh
• Barry and Emilie McGuinness
• Max Walker
• Cameron and Karl Gibbs
• Steven and Lachlan McDonald
• Peter McDonald
• Natalie Manley
• Stephen "Bucket" Scullion
• Mike Malherbe
• Matt Webber
• Harley Dreghorn

In total 19 members who willinging gave up their Saturday afternoon to prevent the lose of life and support the public.

Notes of praise for all club members have been recieved from the emergency service personel involved told, with special mention of our 3 SRC holders Karl, Lachlan and Max for the way they conducted themselves today.