There are fears for the mental health of frontline volunteers who helped northern New South Wales through back-to-back floods, with the stress and burden of the deadly events taking a toll.
There was criticism about the emergency response on February 28, the start of the crisis period, when flood victims were unable to get through to operators on the SES or triple-0 phone lines.
Ballina SES Deputy Commander Jim Fuggle said some volunteers were blaming themselves for not being able to do more.
"They couldn't get to certain areas where we knew that people were trapped and experiencing very horrible and fearful issues with water and losing stock, and perhaps even in fear of losing their own lives," he said.
Mr Fuggle said the stress of triaging very serious requests also put a strain on personal relationships.
"Each person that was asking for help has real and immediate needs … and they were particularly difficult decisions," he said.
Long days on the front line
Ballina SES member James Melville said he worked 14 to 16-hour days during the crisis.
"We do have that weight, a burden on our shoulders, but it's a job we signed up for," he said.
"We do try and do our best with the amount of equipment and training and personnel we have, but we can only do so much.
Those sentiments were echoed by Jim McCormack of the Woodburn SES, who has been an active member since 1982.
He described the February 28 event as "a flood of biblical proportions" and said most of his unit's members found themselves cut off and unable get to their headquarters.
"We weren't able to do what the SES normally does in floods," Mr McCormack said.
"It took out two vehicles, some of our boats, our storm trailer, our generators — it's been a massive loss for us."
Mr McCormack said it was frustrating for all concerned.
"Not all, but some of the people higher up in the chain forget that we're volunteers and that we have lives, we have families, we have jobs, we have occupations, and we're not here to do administrative tasks," he said.
Volunteers stretched
The SES has estimated it has 480 volunteers across the Northern Rivers, a region with a population of about 290,000.
Mr McCormack said many younger people were too busy to commit to regular training and service.
"Society has changed so much … people have to have two jobs — it just doesn't work the way it used to in the past," he said.
"We do need younger people involved so that they can perform the tasks — the roof work, the flood boat work, the road crash rescue work."
But the resourcing issue was not just about people, but also equipment and space.
Mr Melville said there had been 50 applications to join the Ballina unit following the flood crisis, but the organisation was too small to accept many more people.
"We simply don't have the room to hold that many volunteers," he said.
Mr Fuggle agreed that units looking to recruit and train more volunteers were hamstrung.
"If we had more boats and more vehicles and better premises in which to house them, then we could provide a much more effective service and use of the volunteers," he said.
Mr Fuggle said a professional disaster response service was not viable.
"If they were to pay appropriate rates to all the volunteers, the government would simply not have the money," he said.
Inquiry taking submissions
NSW Emergency Services Minister Stephanie Cooke said SES volunteers had "done an absolutely magnificent job".
"As we know, a number of SES members themselves lost absolutely everything they own through these floods and yet gave little consideration to that in favour of doing everything they could to save lives," she said.
Ms Cooke, an SES volunteer in Junee, in the state's south, said she felt she was "one of them".
She said she would be happy to speak with individual volunteers about any concerns they had and urged them to make submissions to the parliamentary inquiry into the floods.
