Ho, Ho, Ho and off the pagers go

Not Tornado Alley USA  but the Northern suburbs of Melbourne on Christmas Day 2011

As families all across Melbourne celebrated Christmas Day yesterday; weather radar images began delivering the ominous warnings of the storms that were about to put a dampener on so many Christmas festivities.

CLICK HERE to check out the video and watch for Chelsea's very own Desanka and our  fearless leader, Ron Fitch in cameo appearances.

From early evening, as high winds, very large hail, torrential rain and even a tornado began their path of destruction across parts of Melbourne, requests for assistance for Northern suburban units began to come through with an initial team from Chelsea heading to assist Brimbank around 7.00pm.

Many Melburnians received a surprise white Christmas

Around 9.30pm, another team headed for Broadmeadows and on Boxing Day morning (26/12/2011) a team headed for Whittlesea. 2 additional crews have now been assigned instructions to assist Eltham Unit on Tuesday (27/12/2011) however; the cleanup is expected to continue for much of the week.

Now that;s a snow angel of a different kind and dreaming of a white Christmas

Even though teams were assisting other units, members were ready to go if Chelsea needed them and just after 1.30pm on Boxing Day, the call went out as a large branch crashed down, narrowly missing a parked car and closing all traffic to Elsie Grove in Chelsea.

The Elsie Grove, traffic hazard that closed the road

Although Chelsea’s operational area escaped almost unscathed from the Christmas Day storms, our members were as always, ready and willing to give up their Christmas to assist others.

The team arrive on scene to tackle the tree

Rescue 3 rolled with 4 members on board and after almost an hour had the road reopened and traffic flowing again.

And so the clearance begins

Job done

And this is the Chelsea SES Class of 2011. The volunteer members that make up Chelsea SES and are always there for our community as well as being ready to jump in to help our neighbouring units in times of trouble. The fact that it was Christmas Day was irrelevant, the members were needed and so they went. As always, huge thanks must go to the families of our members for their understanding in allowing us to do what we do 365 days a year, holidays or not, the team at Chelsea rea ready and willing to go where they are needed; whenever they are needed.

Great job as always guys!!!