Mutual respect key for DFES Geraldton husband and wife volunteer team Beth and Russell Hayes

“Interesting,” Beth Hayes says after a pause — and with a smile on her face. Next to her a man thinks. “Mutual respect,” Russell Hayes says — also after a pause and with a smile. They have been asked what it is like working together. But they love it, more so the roles they play. The husband and wife team are part of the tightly-knit incident control team at the Geraldton-based Department of Fire and Emergency Services. A team of about 10 volunteers make sure the ICV — the Incident Control Vehicle — is ready to deploy to any hazard, fire, cyclone, search within the Mid West Gascoyne. “The truck can be called on at any time for any situation,” Brendan Wilson, district officer Emergency Management, said. “It goes to fires, floods, marine incidents, accidents, missing person searches, cyclones and could go to tsunamis. When it is needed, it has to go immediately. The volunteer members of the ICT have to make sure the truck is ready checked and maintained to be operational at all times. “It is usually deployed to six or seven major incidents in the Mid West and Gascoyne each year. The vehicle is equipped to provide incident mapping, radio communications and resource management at an incident.” Volunteers. Where would we be without them?