General News
3 November, 2025
Warracknabeal SES opens modern headquarters
After five years of planning and persistence, the Warracknabeal SES unit has officially opened its new headquarters.
After five years of planning and persistence, the Warracknabeal SES unit has officially opened its new headquarters.
It was a day of pride and celebration on Saturday, October 25, as past and present members gathered with luminaries at the unit’s new Devereux Street headquarters.
Formerly the site of the local CFA, the unit’s home boasts space for multiple vehicles, ample storage and modern offices.
Emergency management operations officer Jordan Bush said it was an important milestone for the SES unit.
“Moving from the long-serving but very limited old facility on Thomas Street into this fit-for-purpose facility,” he said.
“The Warracknabeal unit has served this community and the surrounding communities for close to 50 years now, responding to floods, storms and rescues, amongst other instances, supporting other agencies from facilities that were often far from ideal.
“This new building provides the space and functionality needed to better support the volunteers and the communities they protect.”
Mr Bush highlighted that the new headquarters signifies the Wimmera's continued commitment, partnership, and community resilience.
Unit controller Mick Evans said the milestone was the culmination of hard work and perseverance.
“Moving into this building was cheaper and smarter than building a new headquarters from scratch,” he said.
“It was already here.
“At our old unit, we were trying to stay there and extend the building, but the design factor and new standards prohibited us in the end.
While the unit worked with numerous SES staff at the state level, Mr Evans highlighted Peter Dunn as a pivotal ally to the project, whose lobbying helped the unit secure the facility.
While the extra space for vehicles was an obvious upgrade, the Unit controller highlighted smaller changes that will have long-lasting effects.
“Our new training space is huge compared to what we had at our old unit,” Mr Evans said.
“We had an outdoor toilet. Now we've got toilets, showers, a washing machine, and a dryer.
“All the stuff that we need to be a functional unit.”
Mr Evans hopes the modern, fit-for-purpose building will attract community members to the unit.
“We've got an aging unit,” he said.
“Yes, we got a few young ones now, but we would like some more.
“I decided to join the unit after the 2011 floods, because I could see that there were just not enough members in our community.”
The unit controller said volunteering with the SES doesn’t necessarily mean working in the coalface.
“We deal with storm damage and road rescue, but if you don’t want to be on a roof or in a road crash, you don’t need to be in the action all of the time,” he said.
"There are all sorts of options you can choose - administration or community engagement - it just depends on what you want to do.”
