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Speaker 1: Now we know it's National Volunteer Week. It's also where

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Speaker 1: Orange Wednesday tomorrow another important day and what better time

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Speaker 1: to recognize the unsung heroes who dedicate their time on

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Speaker 1: top of work and other commitments to really keep territory

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Speaker 1: and safe. This year's theme is something for everyone, highlighting

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Speaker 1: that there's a place for everyone in volunteering and joining

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Speaker 1: me in the studio right now is the emergency services volunteers. Well, first,

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Speaker 1: Calvin Tuby, good morning to you, Calvin, good morning.

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Speaker 2: Hi.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, lovely to have you in the studio.

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Speaker 1: And also Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service volunteered Jared Teresi, Good.

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Speaker 3: Morning to you, Jared.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, really good, lovely to have you both in the studio.

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Speaker 1: And I know that Volunteer Week it is such an

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Speaker 1: important time. I know that volunteers are so incredibly important

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Speaker 1: in our community, whether you're talking about volunteering at you know,

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Speaker 1: at sporting events, at community events, or in the case

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Speaker 1: of you two, in much more sort of serious situations

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Speaker 1: where those volunteers are absolutely needed. Now, Jared, as a

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Speaker 1: fire and rescue volunteer, tell me a little bit more

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Speaker 1: about how often you volunteer and what it sort of involves.

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Speaker 4: Well, look, it's primarily just during the dry season obviously,

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Speaker 4: when the grass is dry and they just need some

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Speaker 4: more support to help control those fires in the rural area.

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Speaker 1: Yep.

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Speaker 4: So September pretty much is our big month and then

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Speaker 4: it all just drops off after that and then we're

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Speaker 4: hanging out and just being friends again.

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Speaker 1: It can be really busy though in September, can't it.

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Speaker 1: Like I know, some days when we us townies are thinking, oh,

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Speaker 1: what a lovely day, there's plenty of wind around him

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Speaker 1: for you guys, for the volunteers and those out there

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Speaker 1: sort of trying to control bush fires. We're trying to

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Speaker 1: make sure that everything is you know.

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Speaker 3: Is organized. It can be quite a busy time.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, And as you saw last year, it was a

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Speaker 4: big push out to Alice Springs as well, So we

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Speaker 4: lose a lot of volunteers from town. I've heard a

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Speaker 4: volunteer out and help out the Alice Springs are let's

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Speaker 4: call them brothers and sisters out there.

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Speaker 1: How often, like, how often are you giving up your

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Speaker 1: time to volunteer?

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Speaker 4: Quite a lot? I Again, pretty much from lunchtime is

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Speaker 4: when the day gets hot, and that's when fires can

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Speaker 4: break out, so quite often I'll run away from work.

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Speaker 4: My weekends are just done between football and that. It's

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Speaker 4: that's my whole weekend.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we're talking off that.

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Speaker 1: You know, sometimes you recognize people and you're like, where

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Speaker 1: do I recognize them from? And a lot of the

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Speaker 1: time it's kids sport. And you volunteer quite a bit

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Speaker 1: of your time at kids sport too, don't you.

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Speaker 4: Yes, I do out at Litchle Football Club with the

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Speaker 4: junior kids, very a little bit of a passion of mine.

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Speaker 3: Good on you. I love that.

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Speaker 1: I love you know, and I think that we absolutely

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Speaker 1: need volunteers across so many different areas, and that's really

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Speaker 1: what this week is all about.

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Speaker 3: Just tell me.

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Speaker 1: I mean, if you had some interesting highlights, I suppose

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Speaker 1: as working, like as volunteering with the fire and rescue

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Speaker 1: in terms of some of the you know, some of

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Speaker 1: the different stuff, you might have been called out you.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I was talking to Calvin about this outside the

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Speaker 4: one that's stand out for me. It's it's my very

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Speaker 4: first fire. It sounds like such a silly thing, but

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Speaker 4: I was kind of pre warned that no one really

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Speaker 4: knows how hot fire is until you turn up to

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Speaker 4: your first fire. And I thought, of course, I know,

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Speaker 4: fire is hot, but that first day I turned up

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Speaker 4: and I went, wow, fire is really hot and you

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Speaker 4: could see where you know, some people may struggle to

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Speaker 4: continue after that, but for me it was that was it.

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Speaker 4: I got the bug and not the fire bug.

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Speaker 3: No, I definitely not.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and I just wanted to do it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, good on you.

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Speaker 1: And you know, like I said, or like we said

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Speaker 1: around that September time, it is it's something and we

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Speaker 1: really saw it last year that the volunteers were fundamental

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Speaker 1: in supporting those the other staff as well in making

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Speaker 1: sure that things are under control and it can get

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Speaker 1: pretty hectic out in the rural area and as you

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Speaker 1: touched on as well in Central Australia also really you know,

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Speaker 1: it is really an important thing to do.

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Speaker 3: Now, Calvin, tell me a little bit more.

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Speaker 1: About the volunteering that you do with emergency services.

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Speaker 3: How long are you've been volunteering.

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Speaker 2: Well, myself eight years in the territory, so just shy

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Speaker 2: of eight years and that's gone really quick. But yeah,

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Speaker 2: and we probably we'll meet up about once a week

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Speaker 2: that on a Thursday night at our unit and it's

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Speaker 2: like a lot of volunteering. The more you put into it,

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Speaker 2: the more you get out of it. So you know

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Speaker 2: that would be a minimum, and it's not every week

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Speaker 2: you have to turn up. But the more you do,

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Speaker 2: the more you get out of it, the more courses

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Speaker 2: you do. And there's a lot of courses to be

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Speaker 2: had there which are statewide or national.

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Speaker 1: And what are some of the different events that you've

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Speaker 1: been that you've volunteered at that you've you've been called

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Speaker 1: out too.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, I think like the fieries, we sort of

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Speaker 2: have a busier period. We're probably more spread out over

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Speaker 2: the year. Like obviously the wet season due to floods

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Speaker 2: or rain that's coming down and the winds, possible cyclones,

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Speaker 2: that type of thing. So we're going to be busy

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Speaker 2: in the wet season. But there's lots of incidents. We

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Speaker 2: can go to trees over drives and people can't get

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Speaker 2: out of their trees, over houses and the water is

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Speaker 2: just pouring end because you know you're in a cyclone

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Speaker 2: sort of edge or what have you. So there's a

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Speaker 2: lot of traffic accidents.

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Speaker 3: There's a lot that we do.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, I like both of you for

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Speaker 1: the volunteering that you do. Is is so instrumental really

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Speaker 1: in terms of some of the recovery. If it's after

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Speaker 1: we have some terrible weather events. You know, we're talking

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Speaker 1: about fires and we're talking about flooding, and we really

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Speaker 1: do experience such a vast array of weather events in

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 4: Don't you.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And when you sort of think about it, like

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Speaker 1: I would imagine that we need quite a lot of

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Speaker 1: volunteers in both of these areas. Are you finding that

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Speaker 1: it's are you seeing more volunteers or is it becoming

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Speaker 1: more difficult for people to put their head up to volunteer.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think generally volunteering in Australia has gone down.

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Speaker 2: It definitely has in the territory. We've found it within

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Speaker 2: ntes the sees. Then it's the less people with time

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Speaker 2: to sort of commit, and that's for a multitude of

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Speaker 2: reasons obviously, but we find in this less and less

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Speaker 2: people volunteering, and we do need these volunteers because it

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Speaker 2: puts more strain on the people who are active and

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Speaker 2: they're getting worn out quicker, I don't know.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's the same with us. You find you see

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Speaker 4: the same faces around the fire ground volunteer wise, and

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Speaker 4: it'd be great if we could all share the load

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Speaker 4: and there was you know, twice as many volunteers out there.

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Speaker 4: But the truth about it is, like you said, everyone

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Speaker 4: feels like they don't have the time. One thing that

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Speaker 4: I noticed for myself in my volunteering journey was just

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Speaker 4: getting started. Yep. I found I really just make time.

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Speaker 4: And it's quite easy to make time once you start.

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Speaker 4: It's just getting started, that's the trick.

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Speaker 2: And I think it's like a lot of things. Once

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Speaker 2: you go in, you're very keen at the start, and yeah,

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Speaker 2: let's go and and you do that course, and you

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Speaker 2: do the other course, and you spend the time, and

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Speaker 2: you'll do that call out and then maybe over the

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Speaker 2: years you get I wouldn't say jaded, because that would

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Speaker 2: be the wrong word. Oh you know, I'm fited on

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Speaker 2: in yeah, exhausted, Yeah, and you've got to find yourself

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Speaker 2: again and you've got to go Look, do you want

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Speaker 2: to carry this on? Yes? I do, Well, let's go then.

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Speaker 3: Well, and you know, it's one.

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Speaker 1: Of those things right that in the community, we like,

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Speaker 1: we need volunteers, and quite simply, if we didn't have

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Speaker 1: incredible volunteers like yourself, some of those different you know,

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Speaker 1: some of those different weather events and that kind of thing.

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Speaker 1: People would be waiting huge amounts of time to have

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Speaker 1: somebody go out there to help them out with a fire,

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Speaker 1: to help them out, you know, in the wake of

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Speaker 1: a flood or a cyclone.

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Speaker 3: It's really important work.

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Speaker 1: But if we all just sit back and go, do

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Speaker 1: you know what, I don't have time to volunteer community

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Speaker 1: we'd live in, it'd be pretty ordinary, wouldn't it.

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Speaker 2: And at the end of the day as well, it's

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Speaker 2: a financial thing because you imagine, okay, volunteers don't get paid.

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Speaker 2: There's a lot of money goes into volunteers, obviously from

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Speaker 2: the government. We appreciate that. But if you're not getting

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Speaker 2: the volunteers and something needs to be done, then you've

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Speaker 2: got to employ those people and then that's where the

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Speaker 2: money really hits.

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Speaker 3: That's exactly right now.

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Speaker 1: Tell me to anybody out there listening this morning that

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Speaker 1: they're thinking that they maybe can like to consider being

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Speaker 1: a volunteer, what would you say to them?

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Speaker 4: Just start. That's that's the trick if you if you

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Speaker 4: get started, you learn very quickly. It's like, yeah, everyone

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Speaker 4: doesn't believe they could have children and look after a

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Speaker 4: whole life. But as soon as they're thrust it into it,

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Speaker 4: you figure it out pretty quickly.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exactly right. And I would imagine volunteering has

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Speaker 1: probably a bit easier than.

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Speaker 4: Crazy and you get to hang out with your best

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Speaker 4: mates all the.

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Speaker 3: Time, which yeh, that is cool.

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Speaker 2: That's right. There's a great matship. Yeah, so you know,

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Speaker 2: you're all in it together type of thing. So there

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Speaker 2: is a great makeship and that's something that you as

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Speaker 2: well as the courses and that you're getting out, that's

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Speaker 2: a real big thing. Well, yeah, I just reiterate what

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Speaker 2: she has been said. Just go for it, give it

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Speaker 2: a try. If you don't like it, hey you've given

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Speaker 2: it a try, that's right, move on. And it's a

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Speaker 2: vast array of different types of volunteering, so you know,

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Speaker 2: if you don't like that aspect, go and do that one,

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Speaker 2: you know, do a different one.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, it's lovely to catch up with you both

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Speaker 3: this morning. Jared and Calvin. Thank you so much for

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Speaker 3: joining us this morning and.

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Speaker 1: Really telling us more about National Volunteer Week and what

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Speaker 1: it means to volunteer here in the Northern Territory. And

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Speaker 1: we will all be making sure that we wear our

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Speaker 1: orange tomorrow, were orange Wednesday. Thank you for joining me

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Speaker 1: this morning and all the best. Let's hope we can

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Speaker 1: get some more Territorians volunteering here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, appreciate it.

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Speaker 3: Thank you,