How new ambulance trucks will help Hunter paramedics save more lives

The Advertiser

3 days ago

Powering along the sand at Redhead beach, paramedics got behind the wheel of their world-first rescue trucks.
Fire and flood-ready, the Hazardous Area Rescue Ambulance (HARA) Unimog vehicles were put to the test in a four-day training stint in the Hunter.
Singleton special operations rescue paramedic Joshua Barnes joined others from the Hunter, Tamworth and the Central Coast on Wednesday, July 23, to learn how to use the trucks.
"I did some challenging driving yesterday, some four-wheel driving out in the bush, and some sand and water crossing driving today," Mr Barnes said.
The HARAs are equipped with fire-protection materials and can drive through 1.2 metres of water to reach patients in difficult terrain and natural disaster situations.
"In the Hunter, there are situations with low-lying areas, and flood-affected areas, and we've been at a limit where we are able to get through," Mr Barnes said.
Mr Barnes said the new trucks also allowed 360-degree access to the patient on a stretcher and a bigger working room in the back.
The eight Mercedes-Benz trucks were commissioned in 2024, with one stationed at the Rutherford rescue stations.
NSW Ambulance special operations coordinator Andy Mayer said the group was ready for their third day of training on the sand after their off-road sessions in the Watagans National Park.
"They are learning about dropping tyre pressures, allowing the vehicle to maintain its momentum on the beach and how to treat patients on the sand," Mr Mayer said.
The trucks had fireproof curtains that could drop down over the windows, and a crew protection system that prompted water to be drenched over the vehicle in a bushfire.
The vehicles were recently used during rescues in Cyclone Alfred and the May floods in Taree, he said.
"A lot of communities along the coast were isolated due to the main roads being flooded, so we found we could insert our specialised paramedics by the beach to get to them," he said.
The deployed HARAs completed about 44 rescues during that time.
Central Coast special operations paramedic Luke Kelly was helping to run the July training session.
A paramedic since 2008, he noticed an increase in calls out to natural disasters and major incidents.
"We were finding every agency was getting busier," he said.
They could no longer solely rely on the State Emergency Service (SES) to get paramedics to patients or to get patients to them, he said.
Rutherford special operations paramedic Isaac George said teams had sometimes waited one to two hours for the SES because they were busy on another job.
"It allows us to be a little bit independent and access our own patients and get them out safely," Mr Kelly said.
The HARA training program began 12 months ago and would probably continue for about 18 months to two years until every special operations paramedic was trained, Mr Kelly said.
Powering along the sand at Redhead beach, paramedics got behind the wheel of their world-first rescue trucks.
Fire and flood-ready, the Hazardous Area Rescue Ambulance (HARA) Unimog vehicles were put to the test in a four-day training stint in the Hunter.
Singleton special operations rescue paramedic Joshua Barnes joined others from the Hunter, Tamworth and the Central Coast on Wednesday, July 23, to learn how to use the trucks.
"I did some challenging driving yesterday, some four-wheel driving out in the bush, and some sand and water crossing driving today," Mr Barnes said.
The HARAs are equipped with fire-protection materials and can drive through 1.2 metres of water to reach patients in difficult terrain and natural disaster situations.
"In the Hunter, there are situations with low-lying areas, and flood-affected areas, and we've been at a limit where we are able to get through," Mr Barnes said.
Mr Barnes said the new trucks also allowed 360-degree access to the patient on a stretcher and a bigger working room in the back.
The eight Mercedes-Benz trucks were commissioned in 2024, with one stationed at the Rutherford rescue stations.
NSW Ambulance special operations coordinator Andy Mayer said the group was ready for their third day of training on the sand after their off-road sessions in the Watagans National Park.
"They are learning about dropping tyre pressures, allowing the vehicle to maintain its momentum on the beach and how to treat patients on the sand," Mr Mayer said.
The trucks had fireproof curtains that could drop down over the windows, and a crew protection system that prompted water to be drenched over the vehicle in a bushfire.
The vehicles were recently used during rescues in Cyclone Alfred and the May floods in Taree, he said.
"A lot of communities along the coast were isolated due to the main roads being flooded, so we found we could insert our specialised paramedics by the beach to get to them," he said.
The deployed HARAs completed about 44 rescues during that time.
Central Coast special operations paramedic Luke Kelly was helping to run the July training session.
A paramedic since 2008, he noticed an increase in calls out to natural disasters and major incidents.
"We were finding every agency was getting busier," he said.
They could no longer solely rely on the State Emergency Service (SES) to get paramedics to patients or to get patients to them, he said.
Rutherford special operations paramedic Isaac George said teams had sometimes waited one to two hours for the SES because they were busy on another job.
"It allows us to be a little bit independent and access our own patients and get them out safely," Mr Kelly said.
The HARA training program began 12 months ago and would probably continue for about 18 months to two years until every special operations paramedic was trained, Mr Kelly said.
Powering along the sand at Redhead beach, paramedics got behind the wheel of their world-first rescue trucks.
Fire and flood-ready, the Hazardous Area Rescue Ambulance (HARA) Unimog vehicles were put to the test in a four-day training stint in the Hunter.
Singleton special operations rescue paramedic Joshua Barnes joined others from the Hunter, Tamworth and the Central Coast on Wednesday, July 23, to learn how to use the trucks.
"I did some challenging driving yesterday, some four-wheel driving out in the bush, and some sand and water crossing driving today," Mr Barnes said.
The HARAs are equipped with fire-protection materials and can drive through 1.2 metres of water to reach patients in difficult terrain and natural disaster situations.
"In the Hunter, there are situations with low-lying areas, and flood-affected areas, and we've been at a limit where we are able to get through," Mr Barnes said.
Mr Barnes said the new trucks also allowed 360-degree access to the patient on a stretcher and a bigger working room in the back.
The eight Mercedes-Benz trucks were commissioned in 2024, with one stationed at the Rutherford rescue stations.
NSW Ambulance special operations coordinator Andy Mayer said the group was ready for their third day of training on the sand after their off-road sessions in the Watagans National Park.
"They are learning about dropping tyre pressures, allowing the vehicle to maintain its momentum on the beach and how to treat patients on the sand," Mr Mayer said.
The trucks had fireproof curtains that could drop down over the windows, and a crew protection system that prompted water to be drenched over the vehicle in a bushfire.
The vehicles were recently used during rescues in Cyclone Alfred and the May floods in Taree, he said.
"A lot of communities along the coast were isolated due to the main roads being flooded, so we found we could insert our specialised paramedics by the beach to get to them," he said.
The deployed HARAs completed about 44 rescues during that time.
Central Coast special operations paramedic Luke Kelly was helping to run the July training session.
A paramedic since 2008, he noticed an increase in calls out to natural disasters and major incidents.
"We were finding every agency was getting busier," he said.
They could no longer solely rely on the State Emergency Service (SES) to get paramedics to patients or to get patients to them, he said.
Rutherford special operations paramedic Isaac George said teams had sometimes waited one to two hours for the SES because they were busy on another job.
"It allows us to be a little bit independent and access our own patients and get them out safely," Mr Kelly said.
The HARA training program began 12 months ago and would probably continue for about 18 months to two years until every special operations paramedic was trained, Mr Kelly said.
Powering along the sand at Redhead beach, paramedics got behind the wheel of their world-first rescue trucks.
Fire and flood-ready, the Hazardous Area Rescue Ambulance (HARA) Unimog vehicles were put to the test in a four-day training stint in the Hunter.
Singleton special operations rescue paramedic Joshua Barnes joined others from the Hunter, Tamworth and the Central Coast on Wednesday, July 23, to learn how to use the trucks.
"I did some challenging driving yesterday, some four-wheel driving out in the bush, and some sand and water crossing driving today," Mr Barnes said.
The HARAs are equipped with fire-protection materials and can drive through 1.2 metres of water to reach patients in difficult terrain and natural disaster situations.
"In the Hunter, there are situations with low-lying areas, and flood-affected areas, and we've been at a limit where we are able to get through," Mr Barnes said.
Mr Barnes said the new trucks also allowed 360-degree access to the patient on a stretcher and a bigger working room in the back.
The eight Mercedes-Benz trucks were commissioned in 2024, with one stationed at the Rutherford rescue stations.
NSW Ambulance special operations coordinator Andy Mayer said the group was ready for their third day of training on the sand after their off-road sessions in the Watagans National Park.
"They are learning about dropping tyre pressures, allowing the vehicle to maintain its momentum on the beach and how to treat patients on the sand," Mr Mayer said.
The trucks had fireproof curtains that could drop down over the windows, and a crew protection system that prompted water to be drenched over the vehicle in a bushfire.
The vehicles were recently used during rescues in Cyclone Alfred and the May floods in Taree, he said.
"A lot of communities along the coast were isolated due to the main roads being flooded, so we found we could insert our specialised paramedics by the beach to get to them," he said.
The deployed HARAs completed about 44 rescues during that time.
Central Coast special operations paramedic Luke Kelly was helping to run the July training session.
A paramedic since 2008, he noticed an increase in calls out to natural disasters and major incidents.
"We were finding every agency was getting busier," he said.
They could no longer solely rely on the State Emergency Service (SES) to get paramedics to patients or to get patients to them, he said.
Rutherford special operations paramedic Isaac George said teams had sometimes waited one to two hours for the SES because they were busy on another job.
"It allows us to be a little bit independent and access our own patients and get them out safely," Mr Kelly said.
The HARA training program began 12 months ago and would probably continue for about 18 months to two years until every special operations paramedic was trained, Mr Kelly said.