DUNSBOROUGH volunteer marine rescuers took part in a large-scale training program in Busselton and Naturaliste on the weekend.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services organise the training once a year and include volunteer marine rescuers from Bunbury, Augusta, Margaret River and Busselton.
DFES assistant commissioner Gary Gifford lent his support to the group of 20 volunteers over the weekend and said it was great to see them giving up their time to take part.
"The department supports 1500 volunteer marine rescuers across the state through 35 groups and we have five of those groups taking part this weekend," he said.
Training kicked off on Saturday with land-based training including familiarisation with the RAC rescue helicopter and other theory components.
On Sunday the theory was put into action with each group meeting at the Naturaliste boat ramp in Dunsborough with their rescue boats.
Mr Gifford said the training was identified by the South West volunteers and the department then agreed to deliver the skills in their local environment.
"Naturaliste and Busselton are in the middle which is why we picked this location," he said.
Mr Gifford said the training would enhance the management of an incident, search planning and causality handling.
After being given a scenario to save the occupants of an overdue vessel the volunteers took off in their boats following directions from the Dunsborough police and Mandurah water police.
Naturaliste volunteer local commander Geoff Brierley said it was great to see all the South West volunteers coming together for the weekend.
"They do a tremendous job in keeping the beaches safe in the region and this training will help us to continue this," Mr Brierley said.
