Award for daring rescue

By Lilly O’Gorman
DESPITE repeated assertions that he was ‘just doing his job,’ Senior Constable Andrew Macreadie admits the water rescue on Saturday was unprecedented within his usual job description.
Amid a crowd of anxious and curious onlookers and working alongside his fellow Pakenham SES volunteers, Sen Const Macreadie waded out into the swiftly flowing floodwaters of Cardinia Creek to rescue a frightened 15-year-old boy, who was clinging on to a power pole.
“He was frightened and shaking through fear and cold,” Sen Const Macreadie said. “He suffered hypothermia afterwards. I spoke to him and comforted him and told him it would be okay and that we’d get him out.”
The brave volunteer said the rescue would stick in his mind for a very long time.
“It’s not very often that you have to pull someone out of a river like that,” he said.
“But I have been in the SES for almost 13 years, and you sort of get in there and switch to a certain mode, you don’t get nervous.”
Footage of the rescue was widely publicised in the media and Sen Const Macreadie is being considered for a bravery award by his Pakenham police colleagues.
However, the volunteer of 13 years and police officer of five, said he didn’t consider himself a hero.
“I volunteer because I want to and it’s something I enjoy doing,” he said. “SES members are all volunteers and every member is giving up time with their families to help other people.”
Many wouldn’t argue that he is deserving of the praise, especially his eight-year-old son. “He is over the moon, he wanted me to drive him past and show him where the pole was,” Sen Const Macreadie laughed.
That wasn’t the only extraordinary rescue the SES volunteer made that day.
The Pakenham crew also came to the aid of a man trapped on the roof of his truck down McDonald’s Drain Road.
The team took the SES rescue boat right up to the truck and then ferried the man all the way up his driveway in the boat.
Sen Const Macreadie had some advice for people in flood-affected towns.
“When it’s flooding and a river is swollen, don’t go near it,” he said. “The situation is very unpredictable – the water can rise suddenly and sweep you away or the embankment can give way,” he said.